A 4-year-old brother and 3-year-old sister died after drowning in a pond in Lake Hughes Monday evening, law enforcement officials said.
According to initial reports, the two siblings were found in a pond near their home and pulled out of the water by their mother. At 8 a.m. on Tuesday, investigators from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau confirmed that both siblings had drowned and that they were investigating the circumstances surrounding their deaths.
In a statement released by the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, officials said the two deaths stemmed from an emergency medical call reported at approximately 6:55 p.m., near the 43100 block of Lake Hughes Road.
“Palmdale Sheriff Station deputies received a call of possible critical missing children,” read the Tuesday morning update from the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station. “Upon arrival at the location, deputies contacted the mother who had removed her children from a nearby pond.”
The responding Palmdale deputies began to immediately administer CPR to the unresponsive children and further assistance was requested, according to law enforcement officials.
“Paramedics arrived at the location and continued lifesaving efforts and the children were airlifted to a nearby hospital, where both were subsequently pronounced deceased,” read the incident press release.
During their follow-up investigation, investigators were told that the children had been last seen playing in the front yard of their house, but when the mother went to call them in for the night she could not find them.
“When the mother went to call them into the residence, she noticed the children were missing and began searching for them,” Sheriff’s Department officials said. “The mother located them inside a shallow pond which was within close proximity to the residence.”
As of Tuesday evening, Homicide Detectives said no further information on the incident or their investigation was available.
Anyone with information about this incident has been asked to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500.
If you prefer to provide information anonymously, you may call “Crime Stoppers” by dialing 800-222-TIPS (8477), use your smartphone by downloading the “P3 Tips” Mobile APP on Google play or the Apple App Store or by using the website http://lacrimestoppers.org.
