Mother & son found dead in apparent murder-suicide at Banner Hospital

MESA, Ariz. (KSAZ) - Mesa Police are investigating the death of a 5-year-old boy and his mother in an apparent murder-suicide at Banner Cardon Children's Hospital.

Officers say that hospital staff went into the boy's room shortly after 2am on Saturday, and that is where they found the boy and his mother dead.  Police say the initial information indicates the mother took the life of the child and then killed herself.  

The boy had been staying at the hospital for seven or eight days.  Police say routine bed checks happen every two hours, and at midnight, the mother and child were fine.  But at 2am, both were found deceased inside the boy's room.  Police say the mother was found dead from a gunshot wound, but they are not clarifying what sort of injuries the child sustained. 

Mesa Police says the family was from Phoenix, and the boy was involved in a situation under investigation by the Arizona Department of Child Safety.  Mesa Police spokesman Det. Steve Berry says police understand that DCS had last contacted the family just two days ago. 

Detectives are trying to learn more details about the mother from family members.  They say nobody else was hurt or threatened in the incident.

A spokesperson for Banner says that staff cannot comment on the incident or the people involved.  Hospital officials have released the following statement:

"The safety of our patients, associates and visitors is paramount to us and is our top priority at this time. At no time were others impacted by this incident and we remain vigil in the safety of all we’re treating and seeing at Cardon Children’s Medical Center.

Banner Health does have a policy in place that prohibits firearms and weapons at all of our hospitals, health centers, and clinics that’s posted at our entry ways.

Our thoughts are with the family and their loss at this time. We’re directing all questions to the Mesa Police Department for any further comment related to this case."