September 26, 2025
Shaniece Willingham has been arrested and charged after trying to take the lives of her three children in a Tampa community pool.
A 24-year-old mother, Shaniece Willingham, has been arrested and charged after trying to take the lives of her three children in a Tampa, Florida, community pool.
The young woman is facing multiple charges after police officials allege that she threw the three kids into the pool of water after she had posted on social media about her intentions to harm herself and her children. Authorities stated that family members saved the children, aged 8 months, 2 years, and 3 years. They were alerted to what she was doing after being notified by Willingham’s Instagram Stories on social media.
The incident took place Sept. 24 at 1:28 a.m. Police officers were summoned, and they responded to the call, finding the 24-year-old woman on the pool deck. The family members who saw the social media postings rushed to the scene and pulled the children from the pool after witnessing Willingham taking the children into the pool and holding them underwater. They were able to rescue them and took them away from the scene.
Officials discovered that right before the attempted suicide and murders, she had been at her parents’ home with the children and left after having a dispute.
The Hillsborough County Fire Rescue arrived on the scene and evaluated the children, and determined that they did not show any significant injuries. Willingham was taken into custody.
“This incident is nothing short of horrific,” said Sheriff Chad Chronister in a written statement. “The fear and betrayal these innocent children must have felt, at the hands of the one person meant to love, care for, and protect them, is unimaginable. This decision was not a cry for help, it was a deliberate act of cruelty. Mental health challenges may provide an explanation, but there is no excuse, no justification. These children were failed by their own mother, and it is only by the quick actions of their family that they are alive today.”
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