The Pennsylvania boys were shot in the head by their mother as they were sleeping, police said.
Two young Pennsylvania boys are being kept on life support after their mother allegedly shot them in the head as they were sleeping, police said. The brothers are being kept alive until their organs can be donated, authorities said.
Trinh Nguyen, 38, who was facing eviction from the family's Bucks County home, allegedly shot her sons, ages 9 and 13, on Monday morning and then turned the gun on a neighbor who lives on the other side of her duplex and had arrived at her home after hearing gunshots, officials said.
She twice pulled the trigger while pointing her weapon at the man, but the gun didn't fire, according to Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub. The neighbor was able to wrestle the weapon away from her, and she fled in the family's minivan, the prosecutor said.
The neighbor summoned police, who found the gravely injured children in bed, Weintraub said.
She was arrested in a church parking lot after police put out a bulletin, Weintraub said at a Monday press conference. Police rushed her to St. Mary Medical Center because she had ingested narcotics in a failed attempt to kill herself, Weintraub said.
Nguyen had been embroiled in a legal dispute with her landlord, who is the sister of her ex-husband, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Nguyen owed more than $11,000 in back rent and a judge had recently approved an eviction order requiring her to vacate the home by Tuesday, the paper reported.
Nguyen is being held without bail, the prosecutor said. She has been charged with three counts of attempted homicide and one count of possession of an instrument of crime, he said.
The boys are not expected to survive and their organs will be donated through the Gift of Life.
"Once that occurs we will update these charges to two counts of homicide," Weintraub said.
As of Thursday, the children were still on life support, the district attorney's office told Inside Edition Digital.
"I have two kids, and this couldn't hit any closer to home. I've kept saying my prayers since I got the call this morning," an emotional Weintraub said at Monday's press conference.
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