Douglas County deputies are investigating after a child died at a gas station Saturday afternoon, authorities said.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office has shared few details about the incident but confirmed that the child died at a Marathon station on Stewart Mill Road around 2:30 p.m. A cause of death was not provided.
Deputies told Channel 2 Action News that the incident is linked to a shooting on Vicki Lane, which is less than a mile from the gas station. Detectives were at that home collecting evidence until 5 a.m. Sunday, the news station reported.
Authorities did not say what type of investigation was being conducted in the death, and deputies did not mention if any suspects or persons of interest had been detained.
Jaquan Straughn, a witness who spoke to Channel 2, said the experience was traumatizing. He said two women and a boy pulled into the station and seemed distressed.
“I dropped down on my knees and I prayed and prayed that that child would make it,” Straughn told the news station. “There was really nothing I could do. Because a couple of people were trying to get close, but the officer was telling us to get back.”
It was the second death of a child in metro Atlanta during the holiday week to be investigated by police. On Thursday, 5-year-old Khalis Eberhart was killed at a South Fulton apartment complex. Police said a bullet struck the girl in the chest after a sibling found an unsecured gun and fired the weapon.
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