Photo: Sina Weibo

A 3-year-old boy was killed after being throwing off a 22nd-floor apartment by his manic mother after she injured her mother-in-law with a kitchen knife in Southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality on Monday. The woman has been remanded by police. 

According to a police statement, the 37-year-old suspect, surnamed He, suffered from sudden mania at home around 7 am on Monday. She injured her mother-in-law with a kitchen knife and then killed her son by throwing him out of their apartment window. The injured mother-in-law is receiving treatment at hospital and suffers no life-threatening injuries. 

The woman has been placed in custody by police and the case is under further investigation. Her relatives and neighbors said she has been behaving erratically recently. 

A video clip circulated on the internet shows that the child was held by the woman and was dangling outside of the balcony of the apartment. Beside the woman there stands another child. As the incident took place, some next-door neighbors screamed to her not to let go the child. 

A second video clip shows that the child fell all the way from the high-rise building down to the ground. 

According to an insider familiar with the case, there was an air-cushion on the ground, but the woman threw her son out of another window under which there was no air-cushion. 

Some neighbors said that the woman even attempted to throw her another child out of the window but was promptly restrained by rescuer personnel. 

Many people expressed their heartfelt sorrow after learning of the child’s death, criticizing the woman who committed murder of her own child. Others pointed out that the woman may suffer from mental illness and such an incident reminded the public that how important it is to promote awareness of mental health. 

Global Times