JACKSONVILLE — Police are investigating the death of a child this week at a residence in downtown Jacksonville.
Patrol officers with the Jacksonville Police Department responded to a home on the 100 block of Westminster Drive at around 9:23 a.m., Wednesday to a report of a juvenile not breathing and being unresponsive.
Neighbors said first responders tried to resuscitate a young child that had been carried onto the front porch of the house.
“I watched as they tried to save the baby and carried the baby away in an ambulance, and the baby hasn’t returned home,” one neighbor said, unaware Wednesday afternoon that the child had died earlier in the day.
City firefighters initiated life-saving measures, and the child was transported by Onslow County Emergency Services to Onslow Memorial Hospital where the child was pronounced dead, said JPD spokeswoman Beth Purcell.
Uniformed police and detectives, as well as a Marine in a dress uniform, spent a couple of hours at the residence.
Authorities have not released the child’s name or any specific information related to the child’s death.
“This is an open investigation and there is no additional information to release at this time,” JPD Capt. Jason Bettis said in a news release.
You can reach Lindell Kay at 910-219-8455 or lindell.kay@jdnews.com.