Mom allegedly tried to drown and kill bloody 5-year-old son who ran door-to-door for help

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (TCN) — A 35-year-old woman was arrested for allegedly abusing and trying to kill her son, who was found bloody and going door to door seeking help.

According to KSL.com, on Saturday, May 3, the West Valley Police Department received a call from someone who said they saw a child “walking from home to home looking for assistance.” The little boy was reportedly “covered in blood and soaked with water.” Witnesses in the area allegedly heard the child’s mother, Petrice Gustafson, say, “Somebody call 911. I just tried to kill my kid.”

The boy reportedly claimed his mother “had hit him with a statue and attempted to drown him.” KSL.com reports he had “deep lacerations and bruises” on his body and that he “had trouble moving and talking after the incident.”

While the victim was with witnesses, Gustafson allegedly took off her clothes and went into a neighbor’s house uninvited. While there, she exposed herself to an underage child and assaulted someone else. West Valley Police arrested Gustafson, but while in custody, she reportedly told one of the officers to “give her their gun and that they were going to have to kill her,” KTVX-TV reports.

Police reportedly found a video of Gustafson hitting her son and threatening him. While in her home, they discovered a broken statue, a filled bathtub, and blood. The boy was taken to the hospital for head injuries.

Gustafson was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on charges of aggravated child abuse, disarming a police officer, and burglary.

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