Overview
- A 38-year-old woman and three of her children, two boys and a girl aged three to six, died after falling from the 13th floor of an apartment in Toulon's Pontcarral neighborhood early Wednesday, May 20.
- Prosecutor Raphaël Balland said initial findings suggest the mother voluntarily jumped with the children and the public prosecutor's office opened an investigation for 'homicides committed by an ascendant'.
- Autopsies and toxicology analyses have been ordered at the Marseille forensic institute and prosecutors say there is currently no evidence pointing to third-party involvement.
- The family's four older children were placed in the care of social services and are receiving psychological support, and local authorities set up crisis counseling for residents of the building.
- Officials say the mother lived alone with seven children and was reported to have recent psychiatric or depressive symptoms, a claim investigators are still working to corroborate and that may prompt review of social support measures for similar families.