An elementary school teacher and mother of three in Mississippi intentionally drove her SUV into a lake with her 2-year-old daughter inside, authorities said.

Cari Campbell Cullum, 34, was charged Monday with attempted murder after police in Columbus said she backed her SUV off a boat ramp at the Columbus Lock and Dam on Sept. 21, the Mississippi Clarion-Ledger reported.

“This is a tragic case and we believe this was not an accident,” Police Chief Fred Shelton said in a news release. “Our investigation continues into the incident. Her children are in the care of another person at this time.”

After Cullum backed into the water, police said, a friend rescued her, breaking a window to free the woman and her child, who was identified as a 2-year-old girl by the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.

Cullum, her daughter and the man who saved them from the SUV after it was partially submerged were not hurt, police said.

A message seeking additional details from Columbus police was not immediately returned Wednesday, but Cullum’s daughter is now in the custody of her biological father in Monroe County, the Daily Journal reported.

Cullum identifies herself on her Facebook page as a second-grade teacher at Hamilton Elementary School. District officials declined to discuss her employment status, according to the Clarion-Ledger.

“This is something that we’re working through now as a district,” Monroe County School District Superintendent Brian Jernigan told the newspaper.

A spokeswoman for the district did not return a call seeking comment Wednesday.

The divorced mom previously earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the Mississippi University for Women, according to her Facebook profile.

A judge set Cullum’s bond at $400,000 during her initial court appearance Monday and ordered her to stay away from her children, the Commercial Dispatch reported. She was not listed as in custody at the Lowndes County Adult Detention Center as of Wednesday, jail records show.