GAITHERSBURG, MD (WJLA/CNN) - Authorities in Maryland are investigating what happened to a 4-month-old girl found dead inside a van. The child's grandfather said the baby and her family were living inside the vehicle.
Michael Dionne, Brooklyn Ruth Irby's grandfather, said he is devastated by her death.
"I loved my granddaughter," Dionne said Sunday. "She was always laughing, trying to talk. She did everything."
He said the family hit some hard times recently. They've been living in a van parked in a Motel 6 lot.
Little Brooklyn was in the van with her family when she got sick. By the time paramedics arrived, she wasn't breathing.
"She always tried to talk and tried to grab your hand," Dionne said of his grandchild. "I've never seen her cry. She was that good of a baby."
According to police, it will take an autopsy to find out how Brooklyn died. Dionne put the blame on the Montgomery County Crisis Center.
He said his daughter applied for housing twice and was turned down. The crisis center had yet to respond to the allegation by Sunday.
"I don't need housing. I can get by," Dionne said. "But the 4-month-old and her mother, it's a crime that they denied her housing."
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