For the second time in less than 24 hours, Prince George's County police on Tuesday were investigating a report of a child apparently drowning in a bathtub.
The first incident happened Monday night in Landover, Md., at a home in the 3500 block of Hubbard Road. First responders arrived to find a 6-year-old girl unresponsive in a tub. She was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead a short time later.
It was a similar story in Beltsville, Md., on Tuesday morning. Paramedics rushed to an apartment in the 11300 block of Evans Trail about 10:30 a.m. A 10-month-old boy was unconscious in a bathtub. The baby was also pronounced dead at the hospital.
"It is extremely unusual to have a 24-hour period where you have separate death investigations of young children," Prince George's County Police spokeswoman Julie Parker said "It's something that hits everyone hard. It hits parents hard; it hits police officers hard."
Parker did not elaborate on the circumstances under which the children died but said that the 10-month-old boy's mother was at home at the time. She also reminded all adults to never leave young children alone near water.
Autopsies will be performed on the children to determine the causes of death. No charges had been filed in either case by Tuesday evening.
