Distraught family, neighbors speak after 5-year-old drowns in SW Miami-Dade pool

A day after a 5-year-old boy drowned in the backyard pool of a southwest Miami-Dade home, his great-aunt and neighbors spoke to NBC6. 

Miami-Dade police officers responded just after 7:30 p.m. Thursday to a home in the 14000 block of Southwest 168th Terrace to reports of a possible drowning.

The child was airlifted to HCA Florida Kendall Hospital in critical condition, where he was later pronounced deceased. 

His name has not been released. 

A day after the little boy’s death, his great-aunt told NBC 6 off camera that the whole family is devastated. 

Family members shared that the child and his mother did not live at the home and were only visiting. They were too distraught to speak further. 

A surveillance camera captured the moment paramedics took the child from the home. 

“One of my other neighbors, when she found out what was occurring, she rushed to the aid and did administer CPR until rescue arrived,” a neighbor, who did not provide her name, said. “All you can do is be shocked.”

She added that she did not see the child often, but did see him running around last week.

“He and his mom–I’m assuming his mom, mom or aunt–had come back from being out, and he was here and seemed well-behaved,” she said. “Just ran around for a few minutes in the front yard and then they went inside.”

 A source of summer fun is now a reminder of a young life cut short, for family members and neighbors who expressed shock and sadness.

“All these homes have pools, all of them. And I don’t know, you see your kids near the pool, he is in danger. If he doesn’t know how to swim, he is in danger,” another neighbor, Efren, said. 

The Florida Department of Children and families reports 58 children have drowned in Florida this year, not counting the child Thursday night.

Last year, 99 children drowned in Florida, which leads the nation in child drowning deaths.