VALDOSTA, Ga. (WTXL) - Authorities are investigating the death of a 9-year-old Valdosta boy.
The Valdosta Police Department says they and several other agencies were called to a home in the 5000 block of Pasadena Way on Monday.
When officers, Valdosta Fire Fighters, and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Personnel arrived, they found a 9-year-old African-American male unresponsive in a bedroom in the home.
The child's step father told officers that he was the one who found his son passed out on the bedroom floor and called for help.
VPD says the boy was transported to the South Georgia Medical Center (SGMC) and later “life-flighted” to Shands Hospital in Gainesville where the child later died.
An initial autopsy of the child was conducted by a medical examiner in Florida with follow-up investigation scheduled by a medical examiner in Georgia.
Since the family is active-duty military, Valdosta Police Detectives are also working with investigators with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) assigned to Moody Air Force Base.
“We are treating this case as we treat all death-investigations by analyzing all evidence and interviewing all pertinent persons. The department is working with the medical examiner’s offices in Florida and Georgia, along with Moody OSI, the District Attorney’s Office, and the Georgia Department of Family and Child Services (DFCS)”, stated Chief Brian Childress.
