A New Orleans community is in shock after a father who led a seemingly normal life stabbed and suffocated his 18-month-old daughter to death on Tuesday. 

According to NOLA.com, 45-year-old Mark Hambrick, of Bywater, has been charged with second-degree murder and second-degree cruelty to juveniles and is currently being held without bail.

Neither NOPD nor the Orleans Parish Coroner's office have identified the 18-month-old girl by name. However, people on social media have identified her as Amina.

On Tuesday morning, Hambrick reportedly called 911 and said he’d killed his daughter, according to New Orleans Police Superintendent Michael Harrison.

Harrison said Hambrick told police over the phone "that God made him do it." He gave police a statement detailing how he "committed this heinous, gruesome act to his own child," Harrison added.  

"He told us that he had stabbed the child and, to put the child out of their misery, he suffocated the child until the child expired," Harrison told NOLA.com.

When officers responded to the scene, they found Hambrick outside while his daughter was inside with visible stab wounds.  

Harrison said police “reasonably suspect” either mental illness, drugs or a combination of both played a role in the attack.   

Neighbors said Hambrick's wife, Monika Gerhart-Hambrick, was working in Baton Rouge at the time of the attack.

Gerhart-Hambrick is on the staff of Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome, whose office confirmed her employment. In a statement, Mayor Broome said she is offering her support to Gerhart-Hambrick "as she works through this unimaginable situation."

"This is a horrible tragedy. No parent should ever have to lose a child, especially in such a violent way. We are here for Monika and her family for whatever they need," the Baton Rouge mayor's statement said.

A friend has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help the mother as she deals with the loss of her child and husband.