Mother saves newborn before dying in fire

A mother saved her newborn daughter from a house fire Monday before dying in it herself, officials said.

Shelby Carter, who turned 21 the day earlier, strapped her 12-day-old daughter into a car seat and dropped her from a second-story window at the house before she died of smoke inhalation, according to the Peoria Journal Star.

The baby is in good condition and in the care of family.

Firefighters found the child in the bushes when they arrived. The house was completely destroyed in the conflagration, to the point investigators might not be able to determine a cause, officials said.

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“Words can not describe what has happened within our community today,” the Wyoming-Speer Fire Department said on Facebook. “We have experienced a feeling that no department wants to go through. Words cannot express the way we truly feel.”

The family has seen an outpouring of support in the wake of the loss. A GoFundMe campaign has raised more than $32,000 for the newborn.

“She loved every child she came in contact with and they loved her,” the family wrote in her obituary. “Her greatest moment was becoming a mom.”