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Las Vegas mother charged with attempted murder after trying to drown child, police say

Posted at 5:01 PM, May 16, 2022
and last updated 2022-05-16 20:03:40-04

EAST LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A Las Vegas mother attempted to drown her child in her apartment as she was taking a bath in East Las Vegas on Friday according to an arrest report from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

According to the arrest report, Desiree Mason has been booked and charged with one count of child abuse and one count of attempted murder.

Las Vegas police stated in the report that Mason admitted to hitting her child and almost drowning her, keeping her head under the water for about 30 seconds. Mason said she held her child's arms tight under the water.

In the report, police said that Mason called 911 herself after attempting to drown her child and hitting her.

Police said that Mason was taken into custody once police arrived at the scene. They also said that the child was taken to Sunrise Hospital to get evaluated. They said the child seemed happy overall, and a medical official from the hospital said the child suffered no injuries from the event.

During the investigation at Mason's apartment home, police found the apartment, "unsafe and unhealthy for humans or animals, especially for a child that is crawling and playing on the ground."

According to police, the kitchen sink was overflowing with dirty dishes and rotten food, and the living room had trash and food covering the floor. They said the first bedroom contained a child's playpen with a cat carrier on its side full of cat feces and urine.

The father of the 15-month-old, Khrih Lawrence, said he and Mason have been living in the apartment for about three years, and he believed Mason was healthy, but said "she's stressed, but then doesn't exactly say what it is."

When police interviewed Mason, she said she recently became estranged from her family and best friend which caused her to be upset, and she felt isolated with no one to talk to. On the day that Mason was bathing her child, she said she got upset, but couldn't explain why according to the police report. Police said that's when Mason continued to attempt to drown her child. Mason said she was also aware of the state of the apartment, but has no energy to clean it after her grandmother stopped speaking to her.