‘We were devastated’: Family members identify three children stabbed to death in Italy and Texas

ITALY, Texas. As a small town in Italy, Texas, continues to mourn the death of three children in a local home, family members are speaking out about the tragic incident.

Three children – a 6-year-old and two 5-year-old twins – were stabbed to death on Friday, and their mother, 25-year-old Shamaya Hall, is charged with their murders. A 4-year-old and a 13-month-old child were also injured and were taken to nearby hospitals.

Child Protective Services sources told the WFAA that Hall allegedly stabbed her children to death when a CPS officer who suspected the mother was visiting her children unsupervised arrived on the scene to check on her without warning. The agency confirmed that the five children were siblings.

Hall was placed in the Wayne McCollum Detention Center on three counts of capital murder.

While the three children who were killed have not yet been officially identified, their family members have given their names to the WFAA.

Paternal grandmother Latanya Reese identified the 6-year-old victim as Legend Chapell.

“When I got the call about my grandson Legend, we were devastated. We still are,” Reese said. “I tried not to get angry.”

The Martin family, paternal relatives of the 5-year-old twins, identified the twins as Alia and Aiden Martin. Alia and Aiden were Legend’s half-siblings.

Hall is likely to face additional charges, but it is currently unclear what they may be.

The children had previously been placed in the care of another relative by CPS.

Reese told the WFAA that she tried several times to get custody of Legend, but was unsuccessful.

“I wish I could save Legend,” Reese said. “I think about what I could have done differently? I don’t know. I would do anything.”

CPS said it could not provide further information about the two surviving children or their current condition.

“I want justice for Legend. I won’t rest until they pay for what they did. It is not right. I’m tired of crying about it. I’m ready to fight because of this,” Reese said. “They were not only taken from our family, they were taken from the community, from schools, from their friends.”

Reese told WFAA that Legend loves Spider-Man and the Los Angeles Lakers. He wanted to be a professional boxer when he grew up and told his grandmother that he enjoyed going to school because that was where he felt he could be himself.

According to Reese, Legend and his twin half-brothers will be buried together.

An online fundraising campaign was organized to cover Legend’s funeral costs.