VIDEOS: Palm Bay Vigil Honors Child Murder Victims
By Space Coast Daily // March 24, 2015
to honor the lives of three children
ABOVE VIDEO: Hundreds of residents came together inside Palm Bay Christian Church on Monday night to honor the lives of three children whose lives were taken too soon. Philip McCarty, 6, Christopher Swist, 5-months and Laci McCarty, 7, were tragically murdered last Friday night in an incident involving their mother, Jessica McCarty. Watch the highlights of the vigil with reactions by area residents in the above video. The full ceremony can be viewed below. (Videos by Zach Clark, SpaceCoastDaily.com)
Mother Charged With Murder In Deaths Of Her Children, Hundreds Come Out For Vigil
BREVARD COUNTY • PALM BAY, FLORIDA – Hundreds of residents came together inside Palm Bay Christian Church on Monday night to honor the lives of three children whose lives were taken too soon.
Philip McCarty, 6, Christopher Swist, 5-months and Laci McCarty, 7, were tragically murdered last Friday night in an incident involving their mother, Jessica McCarty.
Police have found notes Jessica McCarty had left behind in the home, with one addressed to her family that apologized for “what she had to do.”
McCarty is being held without bond and remains under medical watch at the Brevard County Jail, according to authorities.
Jessica McCarty’s case is scheduled to go before a grand jury on April 8.
At 5:57 p.m. Friday, emergency dispatchers received a 9-1-1 call from a woman claiming to have killed her three children in a home on Kenmore Street NW in Palm Bay.
Seconds later, emergency dispatchers received another 9-1-1 call from a man claiming to be the woman’s boyfriend and the father of one of the children. The caller reported his child was not breathing. That child was 5-month old Christopher Swist.
When police officers arrived at the home, McCarty was in the front yard armed with a knife.
She did not comply with repeated commands from officers to drop the knife, which led the officers to deploy several “less lethal” bean bag rounds to gain compliance, according to police.
Jessica McCarty was then taken into custody.
The officers then located the three unresponsive children who were later transported to the hospital where Laci McCarty,7, was pronounced dead at 7:05 P.M.
Philip was being transported to Florida Hospital but then coded and had to be re-eouted to Wuesthoff Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Christopher Swist, 5-months old, later died Sunday night.
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