A two-year-old girl has been killed after an air conditioning unit fell from an eighth-floor apartment and landed on her stroller while her two young siblings watched in horror.
Toronto police said they were called to an apartment complex in the Scarborough section of the city just before 4pm on Monday.
The mother of the girl and her three young children were entering the Toronto Community Housing complex after she picked two of them up from school.
Just before entering the building, an air conditioning unit landed directly on the stroller carrying Crystal Mirogho, according to CTV News Toronto.
Crystal’s two siblings – ages five and seven – witnessed the incident.
She was rushed to hospital, where she was pronounced dead just after 11pm on Monday.
‘I heard screaming,’ building resident Sherene Bromfield told CTV News Toronto.
‘I ran on my balcony and I looked over and I could see her trying to revive her daughter.
‘They said they had a pulse, a low pulse, and she just started crying.’
The family, through a law firm, said it was ‘devastated’ by Crystal’s death.
‘Our family has lost our precious baby girl Crystal,’ the family said.
‘We are devastated. We would ask that through this difficult time we be given the opportunity to grieve our loss privately.
‘We wanted to thank the public for the outpouring of support for our family while we are struggling to cope this is tragedy.’
A GO FUND ME page has been created to raise money so as to help the family offset funeral and burial costs.
The crowd funding campaign is also aimed at helping the family relocate to another home.
‘The family cannot bear to go back to the same building where their daughter was killed,’ according to the GoFundMe page.
As of Thursday, the crowd funding effort has raised more than $19,000 – nearly two-thirds of the $30,000 goal.
Investigators are in the process of gathering surveillance footage and witness statements.
Preliminary findings, however, indicate that this was a ‘tragic accident,’ a Toronto police official, Inspector Mandeep Mann, told Global news.
Residents told CTV that last year building management offered residents the opportunity to trade in their window air conditioning units with portable ones that could be kept inside home free of charge.
But while some residents agreed to the deal, others did not.
The building’s owner, the Toronto Community Housing Corporation, said it was ‘deeply saddened’ by Crystal’s death.
‘Our thoughts are with the family at this difficult time and we offer them our sincere condolences,’ the company said in a statement.
‘TCHC staff are onsite at the building today to assist tenants who require support.
‘Toronto Community Housing staff attended at the building yesterday alongside Toronto Police Service to investigate what took place and we continue to review this incident. We will take any appropriate action once the facts are known.’
A law firm representing the family said that it planned to put TCHC ‘on notice’ though it is too early to say whether there will be a lawsuit.
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