NYPD treats death of 5-year-old in South Richmond Hill as homicide
Police officials say the girl's mother placed the 911 call from the Queens house Wednesday evening. As of Thursday, nobody had been arrested.
A 5-year-old girl who was found unresponsive Wednesday evening in a South Richmond Hill, Queens, house has died, and police said the NYPD is treating her death as a homicide. The home sits near the corner of 110th Street and 95th Avenue.
The girl’s mother dialed 911, and officers reached the house shortly before 7 p.m., police said. Police officials said that what the mother told the operator on that call pointed to her own role in the child’s death. According to officials, once officers were inside, she told them the girl was upstairs and not breathing.
What police found inside the Richmond Hill home
Officers found the child unconscious in a bedroom with blood coming from her nose and mouth, police said. She was rushed in critical condition to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, and doctors pronounced her dead a little before 7:30 p.m. The medical examiner’s office will rule on how she died.
As of Thursday, nobody had been arrested. Police officials said the mother, who is in her early 30s, was undergoing an evaluation at a hospital, and detectives were interviewing other family members. Officials also said police had never been called to the home before. On Thursday morning, crime scene tape was still around the two-story house.
Father says girl was getting ready for kindergarten
The girl’s father, 36, said he went straight to the hospital after a call from the child’s grandmother but was not allowed to see her. He said his daughter lived with her mother and other relatives. He and the mother had been texting recently about school supplies for kindergarten, he said, and he had never feared for the girl’s safety in that home.
He remembered a restaurant meal with her two weeks earlier. “She kissed me a hundred times,” he said. A woman who lives on the other side of the street said she heard “a lot of yelling” Wednesday night before first responders arrived.
Anyone with information can contact NYPD Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-8477. Spanish speakers can call 1-888-577-4782.
Quick answers
Has anyone been arrested in the Richmond Hill girl's death?
No. Police said nobody had been arrested as of Thursday, and the investigation is continuing.
How can people share information with police?
Contact NYPD Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-8477. Spanish speakers can call 1-888-577-4782.
