Door Crashes And Kills Girl, 3, At Philadelphia Shop During Fundraiser

A security door fell and killed a 3-year-old girl at a Philadelphia ice shop on Saturday afternoon.

NBC Philadelphia reports that at around 4 pm the girl was standing outside a Rita’s Italian Ice shop location at 2829 Girard Ave. in Philadelphia’s Brewerytown neighborhood when the tragedy happened. She was rushed to Hahnemann University Hospital and was pronounced dead at 5:02 pm, according to officials.

The unidentified victim was with her mother attending a fundraiser for a fraternity and sorority. Neighbors tell NBC 10 that the security gate had problems locking for quite some time. Rita’s was shut down by officials with Philadelphia’s Licenses and Inspections. An investigation will be conducted. P&G Development own the store and attempts by the news source to reach them have been unsuccessful to this point.

No complaints or obvious defects of the door had been reported by anyone to L&I. The department says there isn’t a history of issues surrounding the door that fell on the girl and killed her. Furthermore, no records indicate something needed to be done.

A statement by Rita’s Italian Ice, the shop’s parent company, was released by spokeswoman, Linda Duke. She says:

“Our hearts and prayers go out to the child’s family. Due to the current investigation we really cannot comment about the unfortunate incident.”

USA Today reports that several men from the fraternity lifted the awning off the girl and and tried resuscitating her.

A neighbor and witness, Alison Brady, told The Philadelphia Inquirer how the scene unfolded:

“It was almost like slow motion. The gate was falling and people were screaming and it hit the ground and the little girl was there.”

My FOX Philly obtained accounts from several witnesses. Jia Brunson says the 3-year-old “just looked lifeless.” For others, it will be a haunting memory. Tracey Sanford tells FOX:

“This is going to be something that’s going to, you know, haunt me for a long time.”

One witness believes the girl died right in front of her face.

This is a very similar incident to the one that happened earlier this month when a toddler was outside a store in California when a statue fell down, killing him. The Inquisitr reported on this tragedy as well. A family was on vacation at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco visiting some shops and their little boy was playing around a statue that apparently wasn’t stable. It toppled over and struck him.

[Image via MyFoxPhilly]