By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

ASSISTANT Commissioner of Police Stephen Dean confirmed yesterday that 36-year-old Shemicka McKinney visited a police station days before her death to ask for assistance.

ACP Dean told The Tribune he was not certain what Ms McKinney spoke to the officers about. However, he said, it was his understanding that she did not appear “distressed”.

Relatives have identified Ms McKinney as the woman whose body was pulled out of waters off the Montagu ramp, with her two young daughters, shortly after 10pm on Sunday.

The bodies were retrieved shortly after eyewitnesses saw a car speeding off the ramp and into the sea.

“It is my understanding she went to the particular station and asked for a place to stay,” ACP Dean said. “She was alone and did not seem distressed and from the information I got, the officers called Social Services for her and told her she would have to go to their office for assistance and she left. She did not explain what was going on and told the officers she would go to Social Services.”

A relative told The Tribune earlier this week that she put the mother out of her home on Friday, after months of building tension. According to sources, Shemicka and her children, three-year-old Alisa McKinney and six-year-old Gabrielle McKinney, reportedly stayed in a motel until Sunday night when it is believed she ran out of money.

It has been speculated that Ms McKinney intentionally drove her car into the water with her daughters inside, however ACP Dean has said police are awaiting the results of an autopsy before the deaths are classified.

Family members described Shemicka as a depressed college graduate who was argumentative and out of work.

On Monday, her grandmother told The Tribune she was “angry, sad and confused” by the deaths of her two “great-grand babies”, allegedly at the hands of their own mother – a woman she had raised and loved.

Alice McKinney said her granddaughter was an intelligent, beautiful girl who “had a lot of problems” and “lost her way” after graduating from college in the United States. She said “Mika”, as she was affectionately called, loved her children “with all her heart.”

She added that although her granddaughter was “sad a lot” she would have never imagined she would have “gone this far”.

Police have in the past urged people to be on the lookout for warning signs of suicide, such as talking about it or having feelings of helplessness or worthlessness.

For counselling and emotional support contact the Department of Social Services hotline on 322-2763 or the Crisis Centre on 328-0922 or 322-4999.