A mother made a heart-breaking 911 call after her three-year-old son was shot while going down a park slide at a birthday party.
Rylo Yancy was enjoying a celebration at Riverland Park in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, when gunfire erupted from a vehicle that pulled up around 4.30pm on Sunday.
As parents tried to protect their children and take cover, Rylo was shot. The boy was rushed with life-threatening injuries to Broward Health Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead later.
In a 911 call obtained by WSVN on Monday, a woman could be heard pleading to the dispatcher: ‘I need an ambulance at Riverland Park. My baby just got shot. We’re at Riverland.’
‘What’s the address?’ replied the dispatcher. ‘You’re at Riverland Park?’
The vehicle fled shortly after the shooting.
Another woman who called 911 told a dispatcher, ‘Hello, hello, hello,’ as a dispatcher said, ‘She said a baby was shot.’
A third dispatcher could be heard saying through the Broadcastify Police scanner: ‘We’re on the north side of the park. We have one pediatric, trauma alert.’
Family members and friends sobbed and tried to comfort one another after Rylo was shot.
The motive of the shooting was not immediately clear. The park has been temporarily closed amid an investigation by the Fort Lauderdale Police Department.
Detectives have reportedly identified and recovered the vehicle linked to the fatal shooting, WSVN reported.
No arrests had been made as of Tuesday afternoon.
‘My heart has been broken to see this and hear about a child, an innocent child, that knows nothing about nothing,’ a neighbor, Lillie Charles, told the TV station.
‘Just enjoying a birthday party and then all of a sudden this happens and I feel so bad for the parents.’
City workers were spotted making repairs to the playground including the slide on which Ryle was shot.
Anyone with information on the crime is asked to contact Broward County Crime Stoppers.
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