Young mother allegedly shoots and kills her 5-year-old and seriously injures her 1-year-old [Updated]

A young mother who police said allegedly shot her two boys —  killing her 5-year-old and critically wounding her 1-year-old — shouted “I’ve wasted my life!” from her balcony, according to a neighbor.

The woman, believed to be in her mid-20s, called 911 about 8:30 a.m. Saturday and told the dispatcher that she had killed her children. When officers arrived at the three-unit apartment complex on the 7200 block of South Gramercy Place, the woman was standing on a second-floor balcony waving a handgun.
Police have not yet confirmed her identity.

[Updated at 1:08 p.m.: Police identified the woman as La' Tonya Dixon.]

After hearing the woman scream, next-door neighbor Sandra Jones said she saw her on the balcony rail and yelled out, “No, don’t jump! You have [your son] and the baby to think about! They’re going to need you.”

As officers arrived at the beige stucco apartment, the mother told police to shoot her. She was walking in and out of her apartment with the handgun, police said. Officers ordered her numerous times to drop the gun, but she refused. At one point she climbed on the balcony rail and stood on it, as if preparing to jump, police said.

At one point she put the gun on the balcony floor and officers quickly tackled and arrested her, police said.

Inside the living room they found the body of a 5-year-old boy. The younger boy had been shot multiple times and was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he is in critical condition, police said.

Neighbors said the woman walked her always-smiling oldest son to school every day, with the baby, Michael, in tow.

“He’d be so proud to go to school,” Jones said. “She was a wonderful mom. She was a wonderful mom. I just don’t know what happened.”

Danielle Jones, 17, whose 2-year-old son would play with Michael, said she hadn’t seen them outside for about a month. “She closed the doors and it would be all dark,” she said.

At 4:30 this morning, she heard the mother arguing loudly to herself. Jones said she was known to talk to herself. And then, at 8 a.m., they heard gunshots.

---Tami Abdollah reporting from South Los Angeles
--Andrew Blankstein

Photo: Ben Dixon, left, brother of the woman who allegedly shot her two children, speaks with police. Credit: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Latonya quisha shantelle]

Darwin award of the day goes to...

[A Djan]

This is really sad. Christians we really need to pray for the lost souls out there. Reading from the uk

[Lisa]

It is extremely unfortunate how many grammar, spelling, and style errors are in this story.

[A.PHILLIPS]

If your boss calls you into the offfice because of a text message that you sent to your supervisor in respond to the the one that she sent to you what would you do . the text went like this . This one is from my supervisor , Anita please put your time in . and this one is mine . look vru is not working it keep on ringing and its not picking up i will try later . this is the next one from my supervisor . no need for attitude you need to communicate this to me company policy, and this is the last one from me . you are the one with the attitude it is not my problem that vru is on its period so stop sending me stupid texts .vru is a system where we call our time in on the phone . so i got fired for that

[sharay]

That's ashame what happen to the little boys. I'm in Mississipi where a woman killed a lady and her unborn child over a man this world is just crazy.

[jj]

typical crack mom ...LOLLLL

[cody mccall]

Where's daddy? Or daddys?

[August]

There is not help for people in a crisis. You call a "HELP" agency and they all tell you "You don't qualify" or "We have no funding" .

[dee]

The woman clearly had some kind of psychotic episode and their were signs but no one intervened or called for help. What an unnecessary tragedy.

[Susann Dillon]

Gunshots heard at 8:00 am and no one called until the suspect herself called 911 at 8:30?

[Cecelia Rios]

This seems to be open season on children who are the most defenseless and vulnerable victims. Where did she get the gun? Why couldn't she just have shot herself and left the children alone? How are they to blame for her failures? Why did she even have them in the first place? I hope she gets hers in prison thought I don't think women prisoners are the same as men. I'm sorry to feel so harshly towards this creature but this causes me anguish.

[Kelly M Bray]

No message, no politics, no accusations. Just sad beyond words.

[supa g]

Wonderful mom......?

[Mary H.]

There are some people in the community already blaming the 'system' because it failed the mother and her children.
The mother needed help and no one helped her. ??
Why when someone who shouldn't have kids has them, and cannot take care of them is it the systems fault? How about blaming the mother and maybe her family? Didn't her family see that she needed help? If you cannot afford kids then don't have them! This is another reason the country is going to the toilet fast!!

[mustang]

The family is shocked by the tragic events that has taken place. The little one will be still be loved and missed. Our prayers and support goes out to the the youngest child and the mother. I just hope that the media has all the correct info about this story before the post her as a baby killer. She was a mom who loved her children dearly.

You also have a typo with Ben Dixon name. Ben's last name is Beckum

Thank you, Mustang

[People in this world are DISTURBED!]

Disgusting.