Woman jumps into Niagara Falls with 2 young sons in ‘deliberate act’: police

A woman and her two young children died Monday after deliberately going over a safety rail and jumping into Niagara Falls. New York State Police.

The apparent murder-suicide occurred around 9 p.m. when Chianti Means, 33, took her 9-year-old and 5-month-old child and stepped over the railing at Luna Island before plunging into the Niagara River. Luna Island is a small island between the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls, which together with the Horseshoe Falls is a popular tourist attraction. The island is connected to Goat Island.

The police arrived on the scene and found that they had all passed by.

FBI PROBE VEHICLE EXPLOSION AT US-CANADA BRIDGE NEAR NIAGARA FALLS

Police say Chianti Means, 33, took her 9-year-old and 5-month-old and stepped over the railing at Luna Island before plunging into the Niagara River. (Chianti means via Facebbok)

“The investigation determined that this incident was intentional in nature, although the circumstances remain under investigation,” New York State Police said in a news release.

Authorities are using unmanned aerial vehicles and underwater units to search for the three missing people.

Rescue workers were still unable to locate any of the bodies on Thursday. New York State Police tell Fox News Digital.

Means and her children — 9-year-old Roman Rossman and baby Mecca Means — were residents of Niagara Falls, according to the New York Post.

New York State Trooper James O’Callaghan said no other people were involved and it was unlikely to be an accident.

“There are a lot of security measures in place at the state parks. So it’s not something where they just walked in,” O’Callaghan said at a news conference Wednesday. “This is a small area right at the top of the falls and we think they went in there at that point.”

Luna Island is open 24 hours a day and it was dark when the incident occurred. Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls that span the border between Canada and New York.

Tourists visit the American Falls in Niagara Falls, NY (AP Photo/David Duprey, File)

NIAGARA FALLS PLUNGE: WOMAN, 5-YEAR-OLD SON FALL 100 FEET; POLICE ‘DO NOT BELIEVE IT WAS AN ACCIDENT’

“Now what were the actual circumstances of how that happened? That’s the part that we may know or we may be able to resolve, or we may never know. But the fact is we don’t believe there were any other parties involved. We have just about those three victims of those three individuals.”

O’Callaghan said what eyewitnesses told police was “alarming”, although he could not share what they said.

“They certainly went there that night and none of them returned. But like I said, thanks to the information we have, we know it was an intentional act. But the reason why is harder to answer,” he said.

O’Callaghan said the family of the deceased had been very cooperative, allowing police to speed up the investigation. Means was the mother of both children and they had different fathers.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Tourists visit the American Falls in Niagara Falls. (Adam Gray/Getty Images)

Police also spoke with Means’ colleagues. Means described herself as a domestic violence counselor on her LinkedIn profile.

“We see no indicators of (mental health problems) I think that would meet the level of that kind of high stress or mental instability,” O’Callaghan said.

This story is about suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).