Orange County Mom Nabbed At Shopping Center After Killing Her Daughter, 9: Report

WESTMINSTER, CA — A Westminster mother was arrested at a shopping center on suspicion of killing her nine-year-old daughter on Black Friday, according to reports.

Officers from the Westminster Police Department were called to a home in the 14100 block of Goldenwest Street for a welfare check after receiving a tip from a concerned family member around noon. and when officers forced their way into the home, they found the child dead with obvious signs of trauma, Sgt. Edward Esqueda told ABC 7.

Khadiyjah Pendergraph, 32, was identified as a person of interest, and working with the Orange County Sheriff's Department, police detectives found and arrested Pendergraph at a shopping center in Aliso Viejo, the outlet reported.

She was arrested under suspicion of murder, NBC 4 reported.

It is not clear why she was at the shopping center.

Westminster Police Chief Darin Lenyi told ABC, "While police officers are exposed to tragedies on a daily basis, this murder is particularly disturbing, due to the senseless loss of a child allegedly at the hands of her own mother. The members of the WPD grieve with the victim's family and extend our deepest condolences."

Anyone with information about the child's death can call police at (714) 548-3773, or Orange County Crime Stoppers, a confidential police hotline, at (855) 847-6287 or email www.occrimestoppers.org.