The Associated Press
BALTIMORE (AP) -- Two male relatives were arrested in the deaths of three children found dead in their northwest Baltimore apartment, police said Friday.
At a news conference, police identified the suspects as Adan Espinosa Canela, 17, and Policarpio Espinosa, 22. They are cousins and are related to the victims although it was not immediately clear in what way.
The children were identified as 9-year-old Ricardo Espinosa; his 9-year-old sister, Lucero Quesada; and their 10-year-old cousin, Alexis Quesada, a boy.
Police said the mother of at least one of the children found them in their first-floor apartment in northwest Baltimore when she came home from work.
“I’ve been around for 35 years and I’ve seen, unfortunately, my share of murders, but I’ve never seen something as bad as this,” said Deputy Police Commissioner Kenneth Blackwell.
The first officer on the scene “couldn’t handle it” and had to give the call to another officer, Blackwell said. “Walking in on a scene, seeing children of that tender age in that condition, certainly breaks your heart.”
The children had returned home from school about 3:30 p.m., Blackwell said.
When the mother, who speaks Spanish but little English, found the bodies, just after 5 p.m., she told a neighbor who called 911.
The mother gave police information about where to find the man being questioned, Blackwell said. Police found the man a few blocks away. Blackwell said the man’s relationship to the children, if any, was not known but he was an acquaintance of the mother.
Police found a butcher knife they believe was used in the killings near the apartment where the victims were discovered.
“We see this as an isolated incident,” Blackwell said. “Neighbors have no reason to be concerned” about their safety.
Mayor Martin O’Malley, who visited the scene, said it was “a brutal, tragic, unfathomably sad murder.”
Al Johnson, who lives in the apartment complex, near where the children were found, said she heard the mother screaming and called 911.
“They freely run around,” Johnson said of the children. “No one watches them because it’s such a safe place. It’s really hard to believe.
“They were very nice, cordial kids. It’s such a shock to everyone. It’s a very quiet, peaceful community.”
Johnson said there are “three or four” Hispanic families in the complex who are very close.
Parents and teachers at the children’s school, Cross Country Elementary, hugged each other Friday morning and cried. Officials said grief counselors would be on hand to help the 700 students.
The Art Deco apartment complex is in the Fallstaff neighborhood in the northwest corner of the city, not far from Pimlico Race Course, where the Preakness Stakes was held two weeks ago. The complex is surrounded by well-tended homes and green lawns dotted with cicadas.
The neighborhood is largely Orthodox Jewish, with a mix of white, black and Hispanic residents. Jews in the area were observing the Shavuot holiday, and many milled about the apartment complex on their way to and from prayers.
Matt Teichman, 17, a student at Talmudical Academy, was returning home from prayers when he heard the sirens and saw police.
“We walk here late at night and we usually feel safe,” he said. “Now, I don’t know what to feel. I can’t really believe it.”