Police: Mom kills her 2 kids, gets on bus

Police: The bodies were in a bathtub The mother admits to the killings, authorities say She faces first degree murder charges There was "no reason for this," a family member says (CNN) -- A New Orleans mother shot her 3-year-old son, drowned her 4-year-old daughter and took a bus to a hospital, complaining of stomach pains and a headache, police said. The children's bodies were found in the bathtub of her home Wednesday evening, the New Orleans Police said in a statement. The mother, identified as Chelsea Thornton, 23, admitted to officers that she killed the young children, police said. After the killings, she said she boarded a bus to a nearby hospital. Thornton faces first degree murder charges. A relative of the children's father was outside the apartment Wednesday as detectives worked inside. There is "no reason for this. I just wish that we could have helped her and helped them," Nicole Hammons told CNN affiliate WDSU. Hammons said the father of the children had an off -and-on relationship with Thornton. "He tried to help her and help their kids, and other family members also tried to help her. You can only go so far," she said.