A Dawson County family is mourning the death of an 11-year-old boy with Down syndrome killed in a Wednesday night house fire.
The blaze broke out about 10:15 p.m. Wednesday in a home on Davis Road, in a rural area west of Dawsonville and about 55 miles north of Atlanta.
Dawson County fire Chief Lanier Swafford said firefighters arrived to find the 1,200-square-foot home about 50 percent involved in fire.
Two adults and one other child were able to get out before firefighters arrived, but the 11-year-old boy was unable to escape and was found during a search of the house by fire crews.
Family members identified the boy as William Shawn Lee and said he died despite valiant efforts at a rescue.
“My neighbor and my dad had tried going into the house before I got there and they couldn’t make it,” said Robert Mooney, the boy’s cousin. “I tried to kick in the door, but it was too hot to bear.”
Swafford told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that one adult was taken to a local hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation.
Fire officials have not determined what caused the fire, which Swafford said left the house a total loss.
“It’s a tough day, not just for the family but for the community, too,” Dawson fire Deputy Chief Tim Satterfield told Channel 2.
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