A 24-year-old Florida mother, Shaniece Willingham, is facing several charges after allegedly attempting to drown her three young children at a community pool in Valrico, Florida.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office reported that deputies were called to a community pool on Sacramento Street at 1:28 a.m. September 24 and found that family members had intervened and pulled the children — ages 3, 2, and 8 months — from the water.
Authorities said Willingham had left her parents’ home with the children following a heated argument with her mother, Sherrisse McCray. According to a motion for pretrial detention reviewed by People, the argument began after McCray asked her daughter to leave when she got into a verbal altercation on the phone with the children’s father, Theophilus Williams.
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Willingham had called Williams to ask him to pick up the children, telling him she would figure out options for herself, but Williams allegedly responded that he “doesn’t give a f— and he ‘ain’t doing anything,” according to the motion.
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In the hours before the incident, Willingham posted videos to her Instagram Stories, telling followers she felt helpless about her children receiving proper care.
Authorities stated in the motion that she said in the videos that this was her “last goodbye, and she could not take it anymore.”
She allegedly told her viewers that “She loved her kids so much, but she could not leave them behind because no one can take care of them, and they would be safe with God.”
The sheriff’s office stated that the family was alerted by the Instagram posts and rushed to the community pool, where they arrived to find Willingham with the children.
According to the motion, she had called her mother on FaceTime to show her where she was and then tied a rope to herself and the children so they could all be “bound together.” Authorities alleged that when she saw a vehicle approach the pool, she “pushed all three children and herself into the pool in an attempt to kill herself and her children.”
Family members, who had rushed to the scene after seeing the disturbing posts, immediately jumped in and rescued the children from the water. Deputies found Willingham on the deck of the pool when they arrived. The children were taken to a nearby home and later received medical treatment.
According to the sheriff’s office, the children had significant injuries from the incident, though earlier reports indicated that the children were not injured.
Willingham was taken into custody under Florida’s Baker Act, which permits the involuntary examination of someone for up to 72 hours if there is reason to believe they have a mental illness and are a danger to themselves or others, or are unable to care for themselves. She has been charged with three counts of first-degree premeditated attempted murder.
“This incident is nothing short of horrific,” said Sheriff Chad Chronister in a statement. “The fear and betrayal these innocent children must have felt at the hands of the one person meant to love, care for, and protect them is unimaginable. This decision was not a cry for help; it was a deliberate act of cruelty. Mental health challenges may provide an explanation, but there is no excuse, no justification. These children were failed by their own mother, and it is only by the quick actions of their family that they are alive today.”
Online court records currently do not indicate plea information; however, Willingham was scheduled to appear in court this week for a pretrial detention hearing.
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