LENOIR CITY, Tenn. (WATE) UPDATE (March 11, 11:35 a.m.)– Lenoir City Police are investigating after a 3-year-old boy was fatally stabbed at an apartment complex early Wednesday.

According to LCPD Chief Don White, Melani Sue Brown, 38, is considered a suspect after police responded to a reported stabbing around 2:40 a.m. at the McGhee Square Apartments on Kelly Lane.

Charges have yet to be filed in the case. Lenoir City investigators are working with 9th Judicial District Attorney Russell Johnson’s office. Charges are anticipated in the coming hours.

The child’s grandmother made the report. The initial investigation shows Melani Brown contacted the grandmother and said she was out walking around.

Officials say the grandmother found the child, King Brown, on the floor and began to administer CPR. Emergency Medical Services took over once they arrived at the scene.

While this was happening, Melani Brown allegedly stabbed herself in the neck and chest in an attempt at suicide, a police official said. She has been transported to UT Medical Center.

According to White, Brown was recovering from surgery, but was considered ‘in serious condition.’

He also said that the department of child services had been notified about Melani Brown multiple times within the last three years.

A spokesperson for TDCS said she can confirm that ” DCS has opened an investigation. State privacy protection laws prohibit me from making any other comments or confirming any other information.”

Neighbors in the apartment complex told 6 On Your Side that King was a very sweet boy.

They said that he was always playing at the park in the complex.

“He was always showing me his toys, and showing me how fast he could run, and showing me the pictures he made on the sidewalk. And he would go play with his friends almost every day. And he went to church every single time that church was open,” Shannon McKee, a neighbor, said.

Another neighbor said he liked to take King to the grocery store next to the complex when he could tell the mother was a little stressed.

“She pretty much took care of him, and sometimes she had to sit out here (on the porch). Over here, the managers and stuff requires everybody, you got a kid out, adults got to be with them. And she would do that. Go to the park. But yeah, we’re all stunned,” Tim Turner, another neighbor said.

Turner said the entire neighborhood was in mourning for King.

“This community is totally rocked with this. None of us thought that that would happen,” Turner said.

The child has been taken to the Knox County Forensics Lab where an autopsy is scheduled.

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