A pair of ‘adventurous’ young sisters drowned after sneaking into their neighbours swimming pool, police have reported.
The unnamed girls, aged five and eight years old, were found unresponsive in the pool at their neighbours’ in house Pensacola, Florida, on Monday.
It is believed the older sister scaled a fence before unlocking a gate to let her sister into the yard, police chief Eric Winstrom said on Tuesday.
Speaking at a press conference, Winstrom called the incident a “tragic day for the city,” and said the neighbours’ pool was “exactly what a safe backyard with a swimming pool would look like.”
View 3 ImagesPolice chief Eric Winstrom called the incident a ‘tragic day for the city'(Image: WEAR TV)
Not only do they have a privacy fence for the backyard, they have a fence for the pool specifically to keep young kids out,” he said.
“The reality in this particular case is when everyone does everything right—the family, the neighbours—sometimes tragedy strikes.”
Ring camera footage provided to law enforcement from a nearby house show the two sisters walking by the home roughly one hour before the family called the PPD, according to the police chief. The neighbours were not at home at the time.
Although the neighbours had an up-to-code privacy fence around their yard and a second fence cordoning off the pool, Winstrom said investigators believe the “adventurous” 8-year-old scaled the privacy fence and let her younger sister in. From there the two went to the pool.
View 3 ImagesThe girls, aged five and eight, were found unresponsive in the pool on Monday(Image: WEAR TV)
“Is it possible that the younger one fell in and was struggling and the 8-year-old went in and tried to save her?” the chief speculated.
“If we were going through the possibilities, it’s very possible the 8-year-old passed while trying to save her 5-year-old sister who was a less-proficient swimmer. I think that’s a real possibility.”
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Some of the responding officers were reportedly familiar with and even knew the 8-year-old girl, as she had previously been reported missing on several occasions due to what the police chief called her “precocious” and “adventurous” nature.
Though the parents were “good at keeping an eye on her,” Winstrom said it appears the girls snuck out prior to entering the neighbour’s backyard.
“Sometimes when everyone does everything right, something bad still happens,” Winstrom said. “That seems to be the case here.”