LAUDERHILL, Fla. – Family members are mourning after the drowning death of a 3-year-old boy Sunday night in an algae-and debris-filled swimming pool in Lauderhill.
The 3-year-old had been staying with his great-grandparents since Thursday at their home in the 3700 block of Northwest Fourth Street.
Police said the great-grandparents lost sight of the child about 4 p.m. and began to look for him.
"It is not uncommon for the little one to go back and forth between a relative's house that's only a couple doors down," Lauderhill police Lt. Greg Solowsky said.
When they realized the boy wasn't there, the great-grandparents ran back and happened to find a Lauderhill police officer on another call. More officers and fire-rescue personnel arrived to help search for the boy and eventually looked inside the unfenced pool, which was so green with algae and debris that rescuers couldn't see the bottom.
"A short time later we were able to recover the 3-year-old from the pool itself," Solowsky said.
Lauderhill fire-rescuers performed CPR and rushed him to Plantation General Hospital, where the boy was pronounced dead.
Police said the child's parents were at work at the time of the drowning and are now cooperating with investigators.
"They're going through a very, very tragic time," Solowsky said. "It's a terrible thing to lose a little one."