A 10-year-old Michigan boy was killed by his mother in a murder-suicide.
Ethan Anewishki died on July 25 at his mother’s apartment in Shelby, Michigan, after she shot him. Afterwards, she killed herself with the same gun.
According to WOOD-TV, Melissa Anewishki was pronounced dead at the scene. The doctors transported Ethan to a local hospital before airlifting him to a larger hospital in Grand Rapids. However, Ethan was declared dead later that day because he had no brain activity.
In an interview with WOOD-TV, Sheriff Craig Mast said Melissa Anewishki had previously struggled with mental illness, but had recently improved.
Ethan Santos’ father Danny Santos said his ex-wife Melissa texted him on the morning of the shooting. The text read, “Forgive me but I cannot live without my son.”
Danny Santos later realized what the message meant once he learned that his son had been shot and was being airlifted to the hospital.
According to court records online, Santos had full custody of the children that he had with Melissa Anewishki. The children were removed from their mother’s home due to her history of mental illness and alcohol abuse.
However, prior to the shooting, some of those restrictions began to dwindle down. Seeing Melissa’s improvement, Ethan spent more time at her house. Melissa then took a turn for the worse and committed an unthinkable crime against her young son.
A GoFundMe page was created to cover the expenses of the child’s funeral. On the page, a family friend mentioned that Ethan’s family chose to donate the deceased boy’s organs. His heart and lungs were donated to another patient on July 30 – five days after his death. The family hoped that the donation could save someone’s life and bring hope to another person in need.