There did not appear to be any other adults with the children in the second-floor apartment at 38 Cooper Street, a homeless shelter in the Bushwick neighborhood administered by Housing Bridge, a social services group under contract with the city. A spokeswoman for the Department for Homeless Services said in a statement that it was working with the police “to determine how this occurred.” 
 
 Mark Almodovar, a plumber who said he was Mr. Smith’s uncle, said that his nephew regularly watched the children and that he had grown fond of them, adding that he may have been trying to discipline the young girl, but had gone overboard. 
 
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 “You do not discipline a kid like that,” he said. But, Mr. Almodovar added: “He really loved these kids. And these are his stepkids.” 
 
 The police said there had been no previous calls about domestic violence at the second-floor apartment, where the recently married couple had been living since July, or calls related to Ms. Torres and her children. A spokesman for the Administration for Children’s Services declined to comment on any previous involvement with the family. 
 
 The killing drew neighbors out to the sidewalk along the street on Sunday, and the Brooklyn borough president, Eric L. Adams, held an afternoon news conference in front of the shelter to express his concern over the death. 
 
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 German Lopez, who lives a few doors down Cooper Street, said he had been walking his dog on Saturday when he saw emergency workers trying to revive the girl in an ambulance. “I have kids, I was upset,” said Mr. Lopez. “It’s an accident,” he said, referring to the toilet training of young children. “That’s why it’s called an accident.” 
 
 Anthony Cook, 33, who lives two blocks away and has a 5-year-old daughter, said he was shocked and upset about the girl’s death. “I’m going to pray for the family,” he said. “She’s a baby.” 
 
 The 5-year-old boy, Andrew, may have sought to intervene on behalf of his sister before being struck himself, officials said. He remained hospitalized at Wyckoff Hospital on Sunday. 
 
 In recent months, the children often spent time with Mr. Smith and his family, including at the home of Mr. Smith’s father, Ivan, in an apartment not far from the shelter. Jeida was “a happy girl, always playing and laughing,” said Mr. Smith’s great-aunt, Milagros Vega, 64. She enjoyed playing with her dog and liked to jump up and down and eat candy, Ms. Vega said. 
 
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 She said she never saw Mr. Smith hit the children. “He was not rough with them or aggressive, nothing,” she said. “This is what I don’t understand. Why?” ||||| Debbie Egan-Chin/New York Daily News Mark Almodovar swears his nephew, Kelsey Smith, is no monster, but the disturbing details of the brutal beating that left Jeida Torres dead paint a different picture. 
 
 The Brooklyn man charged with fatally beating his wife’s 3-year-old daughter allegedly called 911 posing as a neighbor reporting two unruly children — but the man’s uncle defended the suspect as “not a monster!” 
 
 Kelsey Smith left little Jeida Torres unconscious in bed Saturday before fleeing the apartment in a city homeless shelter in Bushwick, according to sources, but not before calling 911 and posing as a neighbor. 
 
 “He was acting as (if) he was some downstairs neighbor and the kids upstairs were acting up. There was absolutely no emotion. He didn’t sound upset at all,” a source said. 
 
 “The kids are acting up upstairs,” the source claimed Smith said. “You gotta send the police.” 
 
 Moments later Kimberly Torres, Smith’s wife and the children’s mother, also called 911 in a panic, the source said. 
 
 KIMBERLY TORRES-SMITH VIA FACEBOOK Kimberly Torres with daughter Jeida, 3. Enlarge Kimberly Torres-smith via Facebook Little Jeida was beaten after soiling her pants, cops say. Enlarge 
 
 Jeida’s older brother, 5-year-old Andrew Torres, was at the 38 Cooper St. home alone when he answered the door for police. The tyke, who was also battered, told cops the brute was enraged when the girl soiled her pants, sticking a dirty garment in her face and telling her to “eat it,” a police source said. 
 
 The tiny brother then tried to intervene as Smith slammed the girl’s head against a wall, a source said. 
 
 After fleeing, Smith allegedly called his wife distraught. 
 
 “He said he did something bad to the kids. He said the daughter was not breathing,” a source said. 
 
 Kelsey Smith, 20, was in custody Saturday night after he allegedly beat his wife's daughter to death. 
 
 The suspect then tried to slit his wrists at his aunt’s Queens home in a failed suicide bid as his stepdaughter died of her injuries at Wyckoff Hospital, the police source said. 
 
 “He called the cops before he left. I called my aunt (Smith’s mother) and she was just trying to find his location,” said Tina Torres, Smith’s cousin. “She asked him where he was and he refused and hung up on her. She was so upset.” 
 
 Cops closed in on Smith, 20, after his mother gave him up, police sources said. 
 
 The brother and dead sister were inseparable — though Andrew doesn’t yet know his sister’s tragic fate. 
 
 “He was her little protector,” Tina Torres told the Daily News. “Any time anyone would go near her, or try to pick her up, he’d be like, ‘Hey, what are you doing?’ They don’t know what to tell him because he’s so young.” 
 
 Smith’s uncle Mark Almodovar, who said his nephew “backslapped” the little girl in the ribs during a fit of rage, defended Smith. 
 
 “The kid, he’s not that type of person. They said he was a monster — he’s not a monster!” Almodovar said. “Sometimes kids don’t listen to their parents and they need to be disciplined. But the way he disciplined them was very wrong.” 
 
 Smith, who is being treated at Elmhurst Hospital for his self-inflicted slash wounds, was charged with assault and endangering a child, police said. 
 
 Cop sources say Smith has 15 prior arrests dating back to 2008. 
 
 Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams promised a full investigation into the slaying after neighbors reported hearing heated verbal arguments at the second-floor apartment for weeks. 
 
 “If ... this young child and her brother had old physical injuries, then it means that we are creating a safe haven for abusers,” Adams said. “And that is unacceptable.” 
 
 With Eli Rosenberg and Ben Kochman 
 
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 sgoldstein@nydailynews.com ||||| NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — A man is facing charges after a 3-year-old girl was beaten to death and her 5-year-old brother was hospitalized in Brooklyn. 
 
 Jeida Torres was discovered unconscious, unresponsive and badly bruised Saturday afternoon in Bushwick, CBS 2’s Ilana Gold reported. 
 
 The family lives at a city shelter on Cooper Street, 1010 WINS’ Glenn Schuck reported. 
 
 Fire officials said Jeida was rushed to a hospital in cardiac arrest, but later died. 
 
 Her brother, Andrew Torres, is in stable condition at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center. 
 
 On Sunday, 20-year-old Kelsey Smith was charged with felony assault and acting in a manner injurious to a child less than 17 years old, police said. 
 
 The alleged crimes happened while Smith was watching Jeida and Andrew in their second-floor apartment while their mother was at work, CBS 2’s Hazel Sanchez reported. 
 
 Man Charged following Beating Death Of 3-Year-Old Jeida Torres In Brooklyn Glenn Schuck reports playpause 
 
 Neighbor Keith Best told the New York Daily News and New York Post that the boy had big bruises on his face and arms. He said the children’s mother and grandfather sobbed when they arrived home and found out what had happened. 
 
 “The family seemed decent, happy, not sad or anything like that,” a man who lives on the same floor with the family told Schuck. 
 
 Giovanni Rodriguez, who lives in the building, said he heard terrible turmoil coming from the apartment in recent weeks. 
 
 “I used to hear people arguing — lady and man arguing, and I used to hear the baby crying,” he said. 
 
 Police Question Man In Beating Death Of 3-Year-Old Jeida Torres In Brooklyn Roger Stern reports playpause 
 
 Sources told 1010 WINS’ Roger Stern that Smith had beaten Jeida after she had soiled her clothing. But according to a man who said he was Smith’s uncle, Jeida’s death was an accident. 
 
 Mark Almodovar told Stern that Smith was only trying to discipline the girl. 
 
 “He back slapped her with the back of his hand, caught her in the ribs. She got lungs collapsed — one of her lungs collapsed,” Almodovar said. 
 
 Almodovar said his nephew then accidentally crushed the girl’s chest trying to perform CPR. Almodovar’s claims, though, don’t explain the injuries to Jeida’s brother who remains hospitalized, Stern reported. 
 
 “Sometimes kids don’t listen to their parents and you have to discipline them. But the way he disciplined them he was very wrong,” Almodovar added. 
 
 Smith allegedly fled the scene to a relative’s home where, according to police sources, he slashed his own wrists, CBS 2’s Steve Langford reported. 
 
 He was treated for his injuries at Elmhurst Hospital, 1010 WINS reported. 
 
 Brooklyn Borough President Calls For DHS Probe Into Toddler's Death Roger Stern reports playpause 
 
 As the criminal investigation continues, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams has called for the Department of Homeless Services to launch its own probe into what happened. 
 
 Adams said he was assured by the DHS commissioner that there will be a thorough investigation into whether something could have been done to prevent Jeida’s death. 
 
 “A person doesn’t start taking the life of a child overnight, it is something that is built up to. Did we have this abuser among us and it was ignored?” he said. 
 
 Adams said he wants the rules changed so that shelter workers would be required to report suspected child abuse the same way physicians and police officers have to. 
 
 “If it is determined that this young child and her brother had old injuries, physical injuries then it means as though we are creating safe havens for abusers,” Adams said. 
 
 Brooklyn Borough President Calls For DHS Probe Into Toddler's Death Monica Miller reports playpause 
 
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– A New York City man accused of killing his 3-year-old stepdaughter for soiling her pants was arrested after his own horrified mother turned him in, sources say. Kelsey Smith is believed to have flown into a rage and savagely beaten Jeida Torres on Saturday, police sources tell the New York Daily News. He allegedly called 911 posing as a neighbor before fleeing the family's apartment in a Brooklyn homeless shelter. Cops found the dying toddler and her badly beaten 5-year-old brother, who police believe may have tried to intervene when Smith attacked his sister. Police say Smith, 20, routinely watched his new wife's two children when she was at work and there had been no previous domestic violence calls to the apartment. The 5-year-old boy is still in the hospital, as is Smith, who relatives say tried to slit his wrists in a suicide attempt before police caught up with him, reports the New York Times. He has been charged with felony assault and acting in a manner injurious to a child less than 17 years old; murder charges may follow. Neighbors say they heard loud arguments at the apartment in recent weeks, and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams has promised a thorough investigation, reports CBS 2. "A person doesn't start taking the life of a child overnight, it is something that is built up to," he says. "Did we have this abuser among us and it was ignored?" (In Mexico earlier this year, police and soldiers managed to rescue hundreds of abused kids from "truly terrible conditions" in a refuge.)