A 5-year-old girl died last week after police found her unresponsive in Capitol Heights, Maryland, and a homicide investigation is now underway, authorities say.
Pradeline Delinois was the victim, Prince George’s County police said Tuesday.
Capitol Heights police officers responded to the 5100 block of Cumberland Street, near the D.C. border, on Thursday after a report of an unresponsive child, county police said. Delinois was rushed to a hospital in D.C., where she was pronounced dead “a short time later,” a statement from police said.
An autopsy conducted in D.C. found the child’s cause of death to be blunt force trauma and the manner to be homicide, police said.
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No information on a suspect was immediately released.
"It's tragic. I don't understand what's going on," neighbor Michael Derrington said. "All I seen was a bunch of officers out here. I seen the forensics wagon down at the playground, and detectives going in and out of the house."
The lack of information from authorities didn't sit well with some neighbors.
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"It doesn't make any sense at all. Not to me it doesn't," Derrington added. "I just want to know what was going on so close to me."
"It hurts to hear, it really hurts," neighbor Darwin Rivera said. "It's simply tragic. The fact that it's a homicide makes no sense to me. You shouldn't kill anyone for any reason, but a 5-year-old? Why?"
Anyone with potentially relevant information is asked to contact county police, who investigate all homicides in the town of Capitol Heights. Tips can be made anonymously.
Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
