CHICAGO (AP) — A 3-year-old girl died Tuesday after falling from the ninth-floor balcony of an apartment building on Chicago’s South Side, authorities said.
The fall occurred around 11:45 a.m. at the Lake Meadow Apartments. The girl was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital in critical condition, the Chicago Fire Department said. Police later said she was pronounced dead, news outlets reported.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the child as Rufda Sahle, who lived in the building.
It was not immediately clear whether the child was alone at the time of the fall.
Neighbors told WBBM-TV they heard a child and a woman scream from one of the apartments on the ninth floor about 100 feet above the ground.
“I looked out, and I saw them bring the little girl from the side of the building. Blood over her face and eyes were open, so I kind of was thinking maybe she was either in shock or gone,” Carolyn Newsome, who lives in the building, told WLS-TV.
“It’s a tragedy, you know. It’s sad for a young girl, and I hate that it happened,” building resident Curtis Job said.
