PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Authorities were investigating how a metal security grate detached and fell from the facade of an Italian ice shop Saturday afternoon, killing a 3-year-old girl.
The girl was at the Rita’s Water Ice store in north Philadelphia where a fundraiser for a sorority and fraternity was underway when she was killed around 4:30 p.m., police and witnesses said.
Members of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity rushed to the girl’s aid to get her out from under the awning and give her CPR, witnesses said. The girl was taken to Hahnemann University Hospital and died after arrival.
“It took about 20 to 30 men to get that awning off of the baby,” witness Tracey Stanford told KYW-TV. “When they finally got it up off of her, she was just lying there, lifeless.”
Officials with the Department of Licenses and Inspections were investigating how the grate fell.