Community Corner

Grief Counselors at School of Slain Clearwater Children

Two McMullen Booth Elementary students, ages 9 and 5, were allegedly killed by their mother, who also took her own life over the weekend in Clearwater, deputies said.

Grief counselors were expected at McMullen-Booth Elementary School on Monday, where two students won't be returning following a grisly weekend murder, WTSP 10 News reports.

Pinellas County Sheriff's deputies say 9-year-old Zander Brown and 5-year-old Zayden Brown were killed by their mother, who then took her own life, sometime between Friday night and Saturday morning.

Dawn Brown, 34, had previously been charged with welfare fraud, a felony, and suffered from depression, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

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Her husband found Brown and her two children dead in their home at 2015 Sidney St. in unincorporated Clearwater early Saturday morning, deputies said.

"They were good boys. Everybody's going to miss them," Lora Howe, a family friend, told 10 News.

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Authorities are still waiting for autopsy results to determine how the two children died. The investigation is ongoing.

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