An Oklahoma mother whose daughter stabbed her younger brother to death believes the girl was having a manic episode triggered by medication, NewsNation reports.
On Thursday, April Lyda described the tragic circumstances surrounding the January 5 attack at her home in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Lyda told host Chris Cuomo that after her 12-year-old daughter was put back on medication for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), she became irritable and would get “angry for no reason.”
The girl had been taken off the drug because she was cutting her arms, according to Lyda.
“From what we found it looks like it was a medication issue, not anything else. Like a manic episode of some kind,” Lyda told NewsNation.
Lyda added that her daughter and 9-year-old son, Zander, “were very close” and that “she loved him and he loved her,” according to the news channel.
“She’s heartbroken and she feels very guilty but she still doesn’t understand why she did it. She said it was like it wasn’t her and the team of specialists working with her, they believe her after working with her for the last six months every day,” Lyda told Cuomo.
Body camera footage released last week shows the girl crying after the incident and repeatedly telling officers she is sorry.
“I ruined my life,” the girl can be heard saying in the footage. “I ruined my whole future.”
In a GoFundMe page raising money for the family, Lyda said her daughter’s mental health is improving.
“She has been very well behaved the entire six months she has been gone and yes I’m very supportive of her and love her very much, obviously there is a lot of healing that we both need before we can ever live together again and she needs mental and emotional help after this, she could have permanent damage we don’t know yet, but she has not had any issues,” Lyda wrote.
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[Feature Photo: Zander/GoFundMe]
