Afriyie Gaspard

A mother snapped after her toddler wouldn’t stop crying.

Police said that a mother was arrested on Monday, on charges that she strangled her two-year-old son to death because he did not stop crying.

Afriyie Gaspard, 29, allegedly strangled her son Izayah Hall, because he was kicking and screaming at her home in Fresh Meadows, Queens, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. Once he stopped crying, Gaspard allegedly left him in bed for 45 minutes before calling police.

Police in New York said the coroner notified them that the toddler suffered from multiple neck injuries. Police arrested Gaspard, and her five other children were placed in the Administration for Children’s Services.

A spokesman for the coroner’s office said the exact cause of death was still under investigation, and said that the death had been ruled a homicide, contrary to the assertion that the police had earlier.

Gaspard’s sister, Stephanie, told reporters she does not believe the alleged confession of her younger sister.

“She loved her children and would never do anything to hurt them,” said Stephanie Gaspard, 32. She lives in the same apartment building of her sister.

Gaspard was awaiting arraignment. She faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted of murder.

Read more: Breaking World News Today