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A chilling incident in North Dakota has led to severe charges against a mother accused of fatally stabbing her two young children. Described by police as a “horrific” scene, it left responding officers deeply shaken.

The accused, 22-year-old Kailey Erhart, reportedly killed her 5-month-old and 3-year-old children last Thursday, following a confrontation where she brandished a gun at her estranged husband and made threats against her own life.

A one-year-old was also attacked but survived the ordeal with significant injuries. This child required surgical intervention, though authorities have not provided updates on the child’s current condition.

Mandan Police Chief Jason Ziegler said the crime scene was likely one of the most horrific things his officers will ever see.

“A scene like that is something that nobody should ever have to see, and the way [the officers] came through in one of the most horrific times that they’ll probably experience in their life, I’m proud,” Mandan Police Chief Jason Ziegler said at a press conference.

“I want to acknowledge this is an extreme, tragic and heartbreaking incident for the children involved, their families, our community and first responders who arrived on scene,” he added. “Our thoughts are with everyone that were impacted.”

The kids’ father, who intended to file for divorce, was at home with their children when police were alerted that Erhart was threatening to end her own life, KFYR reported.

Earlier that day, Erhart threatened her husband with a gun she had recently purchased, but he was able to disarm her during a physical struggle, take the gun apart and scatter the pieces. Erhart bit and scratched him during the struggle, according to the report.

The children’s grandmother was at the home when the killings happened, telling police that Erhart chased her and the kids’ father out of the house with a knife before the alleged slayings.

Erhart faces nine charges, including two counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and multiple counts of aggravated assault and terrorizing.

A judge set Erhart’s cash bond at $3 million, highlighting “the extreme violence in these alleged charges and the threat to the community, victims, and children,” according to KFYR.

The court also issued formal no-contact orders barring Erhart from contacting the surviving victims or family members.

Erhart’s preliminary hearing and arraignment are set for October 6.

A GoFundMe created to support the children and their father has raised more than $25,000 as of Sunday night.

“He is a father trying to survive something no parent should ever have to face,” the fundraiser created by the man’s mother reads. “I lost two precious souls in a devastating tragedy after they were murdered by their mother, and the pain is more than I can put into words. Every day, we are carrying unimaginable grief while also trying to stay strong for his surviving child, who is receiving ongoing medical care and facing challenges no child should ever have to endure.”

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg finds himself under scrutiny following reports that his $300 million superyacht did not aid stranded passengers in Alaskan waters.

The 387-foot vessel, named Launchpad, reportedly ignored appeals for assistance when a 21-foot skiff ran out of fuel during a journey between Petersburg and Juneau, Alaska, on Monday night, as covered by the Alaska Beacon.

Ultimately, it was the Wilderness Legacy, a smaller cruise ship, that responded to the skiff in distress.

During the rescue operation, the captain of the Wilderness Legacy informed passengers aboard that Zuckerberg’s superyacht, although closer to the troubled craft than his own ship, had declined to assist, according to a passenger’s account.

The announcement was met with what vacationer Michael Love described in a Bluesky post as “near-unanimous booing” from those on board.

The tiny skiff had sent out a call for assistance around 9:30 p.m. on Monday, the Coast Guard said.

The Coast Guard determined that the vessel wasn’t in distress but issued a marine assistance request broadcast about 30 minutes later.

Vessel-tracking services show that the Wilderness Legacy, operated by UnCruise Adventures, was farther away from the stranded vessel than Zuckerberg’s superyacht at the time, according to the Beacon. 

It also shows the cruise ship sailing past Launchpad on its way to help the stranded ship — as the social media tycoon’s mega-yacht stays floating in the middle of the water, the outlet reported. 

The stranded skiff was towed back to safety in protected Farragut Bay by the Wilderness Legacy.

Zuckerberg’s spokesperson insisted in a statement that the tech billionaire and his family were not aboard the ship — and that his yacht crew had been operating on a different radio channel.

“Mark and his family were not on board at the time of the incident,” the statement provided to the Beacon said.

“As the Coast Guard noted, the boat was not in distress, and by the time the crew reviewed the Coast Guard contact on a different radio channel from the one they were operating on, the assist was already underway. We’re grateful all parties are safe.”

Donald Trump has acknowledged that a hastily executed renovation project on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool led to a ‘contractor error.’ However, he maintains that the damage inflicted on this historic monument was ultimately caused by a vandal.

On Sunday evening, Trump used his Truth Social platform to emphasize witness statements from an employee of the National Park Service (NPS). The worker alleged witnessing former Olympian canoeist David Hearn tampering with the pool.

Hearn found himself entangled in legal troubles, facing felony property destruction charges. He was accused of reaching into the water and removing parts of the pool’s lining back in June.

However, these charges were dismissed last Thursday by Jeanine Pirro, a long-standing ally of Trump, after the Department of Justice concluded the damage was actually caused by contractors.

In his post, Trump conceded that he had expedited the $16 million renovation process.

‘As with many jobs, there was also some contractor error done by rushing the job for a July 4th opening, but it was a very small area of this massive Pool, and was relatively inconsequential,’ Trump said.

He insisted the ‘highly credible’ career employee with the NPS, ‘saw David Hearn (ActBlue) in broad daylight vandalize the Reflecting Pool by “violently” ripping and tugging at the Pool’s somewhat delicate coating.”

He claimed an ‘acid like material’ was used on the grass near the pool where the phrase ’86 47′ was spotted emblazoned on the lawn. The Trump administration has claimed the term calls for violence against the president.

‘There was substantial other damage to the Reflecting Pool, also but, unfortunately, there is no video or proof, other than the damage, itself,’ the president continued. ‘We are working on the Pool, and it will reopen shortly.’

The president added that security cameras are being installed at the pool, which will reopen soon.

The DOJ moved July 31 to dismiss a criminal case against Hearn, saying evidence prosecutors had recently received refuted the idea that vandals were to blame.

Its 20-page filing from US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said that additional documents provided by the Interior Department since Hearn’s indictment show that the damage was the result of a botched installation by a contractor as well as ‘the rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the American 250 celebration in the weeks surrounding Independence Day 2026.’

Judge Todd Edelman in Washington dismissed the case Thursday.

Charges have also been dropped against three other people, Justin Carreno, Cameron Thiers and Sophie Dennison-Gibby, charged in the same DC court with misdemeanors for allegedly removing pieces of paint from the pool, according to online court records.

Trump has rebuked Pirro’s move and maintained that vandals are responsible, saying that she ‘choked’ and ‘folded like an umbrella.’

The White House previously said that Trump was not aware ahead of time that Pirro’s office would drop the charges against Hearn.

Lawyers for Hearn, in their 28-page motion to dismiss the charges, argued that the poor condition of the pool was ‘plainly visible’ for weeks and was publicly documented through photographs, video and news reports. 

The contractor, Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings, ‘publicly acknowledged, before Mr Hearn was indicted, that portions of the project required repair,’ the lawyers said. 

The firm was awarded a $14.7 million no-bid contract to repaint and waterproof the pool’s concrete floor but the cost has exceeded this initial budget.

Regardless, Trump has continued to insist that the pool was vandalized and has defended the contractors.

‘They did a beautiful job,’ Trump said of the contractors last week. ‘There were a couple of little things, but that was not a big deal. And everybody saw the vandalism. All you have to do is look at the tape.’

The president said that Pirro was ‘totally wrong.’ Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has backed Trump’s claims that vandals damaged the pool.

Hearn has said he was on a bike ride June 19 when he reached in to examine the pool’s newly peeled coating and briefly touched a chunk attached to the side of the pool. But he said he obeyed a park worker who told him to let go of it.

He faced up to ten years in prison if convicted on the property damage charges which were later dropped. 

The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has been a thorn in the president’s side ever since he took personal oversight of the renovation, which included adding an ‘American flag blue’ liner.

It was one of several ‘beautification’ projects around the capital that Trump had ordered ahead of the July 4 celebration.

But problems soon arose, with the coating peeling off and algae turning the pool’s water a mucky green.

The Daily Mail has approached Hearn’s lawyer, Norman Eisen, for comment. The White House referred the Mail to Trump’s post on Truth Social.