Mum 'slit her four young children's throats with butcher's knife before trying to take her own life'

A mum has been arrested after allegedly stabbing her four young children to death with a butcher's knife before trying to take her own life.

Shanynthia Gardner, 29, has been charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder following the horrific incident yesterday afternoon.

She is accused of fatally slitting the throats of four of her five children - aged six months to four years old - at an apartment in Tennessee, US.

Still wielding the knife, she then chased her eldest son - seven-year-old Dallen Clayton - out of the home as he screamed loudly, it is alleged. 

  

Shanynthia Gardner, 29, has been charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder

After Dallen got away, Gardner returned back inside the apartment, where her young children lay dead, neighbours told local media.

There, she is said to have tried to take her own life.

The mum-of-five was later arrested by police in Memphis after being found with 'superficial cuts' to her neck and wrist, according to the Inquisitr.

Tragically, the bodies of her children, Yahzi Gardner, Sya Gardner, Tallen Gardner, and Sahvi Gardner, were discovered inside the Shelby County apartment.

Gardner's children - Yahzi, Sya, Sahvi and Tallen (all pictured) - were reportedly found with their throats slit

All four youngsters - who have a different dad from Dallen - had slit throats, officials said.

A butcher's knife with what looked like blood on it was also recovered from the home, according to court documents seen by the New York Daily News .

Shelby County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Earle Farrell told the newspaper: “When I first got the call to dispatch, I thought someone had been wounded.

"Then it kept getting worse and worse and worse."

Police arrived at the grisly scene at around 12.40pm after receiving a 911 call from someone who heard Dallen's screams, it is reported.

A police press conference was held after the alleged murders yesterday afternoon

Mr Farrell confirmed the youngster managed to escape the apartment 'unharmed'.

He is now being cared for by his stepdad's family.

Speaking yesterday, Sheriff Bill Oldham said the community had suffered 'an egregious act of evil and tremendous loss', WREG.com reports.

A motive for the killings remains unclear.

Gardner has also been charged with child abuse and neglect over the incident.