Mother arrested after her 3 small girls found slain in home

A 30-year-old mother was arrested on suspicion of murder after her three small children were found dead in the family’s Torrance-area home, authorities said Tuesday night.

Deputies responded to the home in 1000 block of West 223rd Street in an unicorporated neighborhood near Torrance around 5: 20 p.m, the Sheriff’s Department said.

“They were met by family members who told the deputies that a mother had killed her children,” department officials said in a statement Tuesday night.

The victims were girls who ranged in age from 2 months old to 3 years old, authorities said. They were found in the same room of the small home.

Late Tuesday, detectives at the scene were trying to piece together what happened, including how the girls were slain.

“There was a lot of blood,” Lt. Dave Coleman said. “It was a pretty substantial scene inside the residence.”

He said investigators recovered several knives but added that there “could be multiple causes of death.”

Department officials identified the mother as Carol Coronado and said that she was being taken to Carson Station, where she would be booked on suspicion of murder.

The father and the grandmother were at the home when deputies arrived, Coleman said. The grandmother called 911.

The father was being questioned late Tuesday at the Carson Station.

As detectives gathered evidence, Monica Morales stood near yellow tape crime tape and watched the scene unfold. She has lived in the neighborhood all her life and attended an elementary school across the street.

“We always drive right by that house,” said Morales, 24, adding that she was shocked to hear about the slayings.

“It’s not that kind of neighborhood,” she said

Since January 2007, at least 24 homicides have been reported within a mile of Tuesday’s crime scene, according to The Times Homicide Report database.