WRENTHAM, MASS. (WHDH) - The Wrentham community is mourning the loss of a 1-year-old boy who drowned in his family’s above-ground swimming pool on Saturday night.
Officers responding to a report of a possible drowning at 10 Hillside Drive around 8 p.m. found family members performing CPR on Angelo Nicoloro, who had been pulled from the water. Paramedics took over CPR efforts after arriving on the scene.
Nicoloro was taken to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
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The toddler, one of seven children in the family, reportedly slipped away from supervision just long enough to get into the pool, according to Police Chief Bill McGrath.
“It was a family gathering and this is consistent with other drownings of a similar nature where it only takes a few seconds for a curious little child to take advantage of that opening,” McGrath said at a press conference on Sunday.
Nicoloro was described by his mother as a happy child who never had a bad day, and she says the toddler will now be looking over them as a saint.
“[His mother] said over and over again, ‘He’s a saint now’,” McGrath recalled.
McGrath said that these type of tragic accidents can happen in a split second and advised people with pools to constantly keep an eye on them.
“If you have a pool in your back yard, treat it like it’s a fire pit that’s raging, you have to watch it every second and you have to protect it, you wouldn’t let your child near it,” McGrath said. “Every little kid is going to look for that opening, and as soon as the adults aren’t looking…they’re going to grab that split second…and unfortunately, it ends in tragedy.”
McGrath said the community was supporting the Nicoloro family during the tragedy.
“No one thinks it can happen to them and that’s why no one’s judgmental,” McGrath said. “And that’s because every time this happens, we all just look and say that could be me because who hasn’t lost track of their little one for 10 seconds?”
The drowning remains under investigation.
This is a developing story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest updates.
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