Boy, two, dies in fall from twentieth floor window

A toddler has died after falling from a high rise window in New Jersey.

The boy, two, died at the scene in Newark yesterday morning at around 7am, having reportedly fallen from the twentith floor.

Authorities said the fall appeared to be a tragic accident, and are now investigating what led to it, with the city’s mayor calling yesterday ‘a dark and devastating day’.

Yellow tape cordoned off the street after the boy was found unresponsive at the foot of Elizabeth Tower, a residential block on Elizabeth Avenue.

Video taken by Fox 5 showed a wide open window on the twentieth floor.

Tenants in the building told CBS News that some families living in the block with young children have security bars installed on the windows over fear of an incident like this.

Belinda Owsumenseh said: ‘We need safety because there’s a lot of people here that got little kids and definitely nobody want that to happen again.’

The fall happened the same day as a deadly mass shooting in the city.

Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka said it had been ‘a dark and devastating day in Newark as a small child fell to his death from an apartment window this afternoon and then two more innocent souls died in a shooting on Chancellor Avenue.’

As well as the two fatalities, another two adults and a child were injured in the shooting on Chancellor Avenue near Wainwright Street around 7pm yesterday evening.

Mr Baraka said in a statement: ‘Our city mourns loss of the baby, and the depraved and senseless killing of a 21-year-old woman and a 10-year-old boy taken from their parents as their young lives were just blossoming.

‘Our hearts go out to the victims, their families, and everyone affected by this trauma.

‘Our prayers are with them — and our actions will support them.’

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