Mother and two daughters fall to their deaths at Niagara Falls
Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of an apparent suicide.
A mother and her two children—a 9-year-old and a 5-month old—fell to their deaths at Niagara Falls.
In a statement, New York State Park Trooper James O'Callaghan said the New York State Park Police and the Bureau of Criminal responded to an incident around Goat Island on Oct. 28 at around 9 p.m.
Investigation showed Chianti Means, 33, and her kids, Roman Rossman and Mecca Means, crossed over a safety guild rail and went over the falls.
The incident "was intentional in nature, though the circumstances remain under investigation," the police said, adding that search and rescue efforts had "negative results."
"This incident deems no public threat to safety," they added.
O'Callaghan told reporters the trio "went there and never came out." He pointed out that the falls have "a lot of security measures."
"It's not something where they just stumbled in," he said.
O'Callaghan cannot share the details of witness testimonies pending their investigation, but noted their statements are "alarming."
“What were the actual circumstances of how that went down?” he said. “That is the part that we may be able to solve or we may never know. But the fact of the matter is we don’t believe there are any other parties involved.”
"We do know it was an intentional act," he added, "but the reason why is tougher to answer."
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If you think you, your friend, or your family member is considering self-harm or suicide, you may call the National Mental Health Crisis Hotline at 1553 (Luzon-wide, landline toll-free), 0966-351-4518 or 0917-899-USAP (8727) for Globe/TM users, or 0908-639-2672 for Smart users.