JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A 5-year-old drowned Wednesday in a neighbor's pool in the backyard of an Ortega Hills home, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said.
Homicide investigators said Kyrie Michiah Johnson drowned about 5 p.m. in a pool in the backyard of a home on Ortega Bluff Parkway, on the city's Westside.
JSO Sgt. Chuck Ford said the homeowner received a call from neighbors, who said a girl had left the house. The homeowner checked surveillance video on his cellphone and saw the victim in the pool.
The homeowner, who was doing yard work nearby, ran home to pull the child from the pool, Ford said.
The child was taken to the hospital, where she died.
“It's an unfortunate set of circumstances to have a 5-year-old in this set of circumstances," Ford said. "It's a tragedy for us all out here from a patrol standpoint. And the neighborhood and the neighbors are shocked."
Ford said the child lived in a home adjacent to the home with the backyard pool.
A neighbor told News4Jax that the child was a girl with special needs who had wandered off several times in the past.
"I just got home from work around 5 p.m. And we just heard the news from random walkers, and they were stopping by to say, 'Hello, have (you) heard there was a drowning? One of the children in the neighborhood,'" said neighbor Rasheeda Sneeze.
Sneeze said other neighbors were deeply saddened.
"(It's) just a very close-knit community. Everyone's out here riding around and walking and trying to figure out what's going on. Nothing like this has ever happened," Sneeze said. "It's very shocking and concerning."
Investigators said it's unclear who was supposed to be watching the child, and they're trying to determine how the child got away, and her parents' were home at the time.
Ford said the in-ground pool was fenced off by a wooden, gated fence that "appears to be appropriate in size and nature for a typical neighborhood."
"Watch your children, especially during the summer months," Ford said.
The Department of Children and Families was notified. The Sheriff's Office continues to investigate.