DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. — The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said a child is dead after a traumatic incident played out at a gas station Saturday afternoon in front of multiple witnesses.
A viewer called Channel 2 Action News to report that he witnessed a child’s death at a Marathon gas station on Stewart Mill Road.
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Channel 2′s Ashli Lincoln talked to Jaquan Straughn, who said he was at the gas station around 2:30 p.m. when a car pulled up and he heard lots of yelling and screaming.
Straughn said he watched two women pull a little girl out of the backseat who was seriously injured.
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“You could tell that if she was not already gone yet, she was close to it,” Straughn said. “You could tell that she wasn’t breathing at all.”
Straughn said a boy with the family was crying and panicking, yelling that she had been shot. Straughn guessed that both children were between 8 and 12 years old. Channel 2 has not been able to confirm their relationship.
“They were severely distraught, especially the brother,” Straughn said. “Just seeing him yell, ‘Don’t die! Don’t die!’ knowing he can’t do nothing about his little sister passing (was devastating).”
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The Sheriff’s Office would only confirm that a child was killed but didn’t give a cause of death. Channel 2 Action News is working to learn exactly what happened.
Straughn said officers that arrived at the scene did not perform CPR for several minutes even as onlookers yelled at them to perform the life-saving maneuver.
“I dropped down on my knees and I prayed and prayed that that child would make it,” Straughn said. “There was really nothing I could do. Because a couple of people were trying to get close, but the officer was telling us to get back.”
When the ambulance arrived, Straughn said it was clear the child was gone, though video shot by witnesses showed EMTs doing CPR.
“The mom, she was distraught,” Straughn said. “She was in tears, she dropped down. Pretty much everyone at that gas station, it was a very emotional scene.”
Straughn said he believes the family was on the way to the emergency room but stopped at the gas station when they realized the child was not breathing.
“It’s scary, face to face, seeing a child lose her life like that,” Straughn said. “It’s devastating, and it’s scary to the community as well.”
It’s unclear where the girl was injured and if was accidental.
This is the second death of a child in metro Atlanta this holiday weekend. A 5-year-old girl was shot and killed by a 3-year-old relative in South Fulton County on Thanksgiving Day.
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