A mother and her two children are presumed dead after intentionally crossing Niagara Falls on Luna Island, police said Wednesday.

Chaianti Means, 33, her 9-year-old son, Roman Rossman, and her 5-month-old baby, Mecca Means, broke through a security barrier and crossed Niagara Falls, according to a Niagara Police news release. New York State.

“They are presumed deceased and recovery efforts are underway with the New York State Park Police, who are using the resources of Niagara Falls and the lower river to recover the bodies,” Trooper said of State James O’Callaghan. News week by email Wednesday afternoon.

State troopers and New York State Park Police responded to the incident Monday around 9 p.m. ET.

“The investigation determined that this incident was intentional in nature, although the circumstances remain under investigation,” state police said in their news release.

Search and rescue efforts, which include unmanned aircraft systems and an underwater recovery unit, have so far failed, according to police.

Luna Island is a small island between American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls which along with Horseshoe Falls make up the tourist attraction. The deceased family are natives of Niagara Falls, New York.

Murder-suicide on Long Island

In upstate Syosset, New York, Joseph DeLucia, Jr., 59, shot four members of his family and later himself. an apparent murder-suicide in August.

Police went to DeLucia’s home after receiving reports of shots fired and found DeLucia’s siblings, Joann Kearns, 69, Frank DeLucia, 71, and Tina Hammond, 64, as well. as his niece Victoria Hammond, 30, was shot and killed recently in DeLucia’s backyard den. the house of the deceased mother.

Police determined that DeLucia, who lived with his 95-year-old mother, Theresa Martha DeLucia, before she died days before the incident, thought he would not get his inheritance.

“The perception of Joseph Jr. was that he was left out of the will and that he was going to be moved with nowhere to go,” Detective Capt. Stephen Fitzpatrick of the Nassau County Police Department said at a conference press.

Fitzpatrick added: “He had mental issues, psychological issues, that were reported to us. Because of that perception, he decided that day to get a loaded, 12-gauge Mossberg shotgun, he approached the rear of the house and from the kitchen fired 12 shots, hitting all four of them several times.

How common are deaths by suicide?

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in the United States.

In 2022, more than 49,000 people have committed suicide, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). This represents 1 death every 11 minutes.

The CDC reports that 13.2 million adults have seriously considered suicide, 3.8 million have made a suicide plan, and 1.6 million have attempted suicide.

Suicide rates have been on an upward trend for more than two decades, with a decline in the late 2010s. Suicide rates increased by 37% between 2000 and 2018, decreased by 5% between 2018 and 2020, then returned to their peak in 2022, according to the CDC.

If you know someone who needs help, the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is available by calling or texting 988.