Florida Woman Held In Suspected Attack On Children

ORLANDO, March 20 (Reuters) - Florida police are investigating what they believe to be an attempted murder-suicide by a mother who killed her six-year-old daughter and critically wounded her two sons, Palm Beach police spokeswoman Yvonne Martinez said Friday evening.

The boys, ages five months and eight years old, were being treated at Palm Bay Hospital with life-threatening injuries, Martinez said. Palm Bay is on Florida's east coast just south of Cape Canaveral.

Police took into custody Jessica McCarty, age unknown, and were continuing to try to confirm her relationship to the children, Martinez said.

Police received two 9-1-1 calls, including one from McCarty, reporting that three children were dead or injured and that there possibly was a suicidal female inside the home, Martinez said.

When police arrived, Martinez said they found McCarty in front of the house, holding a butcher knife in her hand and suffering from more minor injuries than the children had.

Martinez said she could not disclose the type of wounds suffered by the children other than to say they were not stabbed, sliced or shot. Police originally reported they were investigating a suspected stabbing.

Martinez said McCarty was being interviewed in the hospital while she was being treated.

The cause of the girl's death is under investigation. (Editing by David Adams, Bill Trott and Ken Wills)