A 4-year-old girl died after falling from a 10th-floor bedroom window at a College Park apartment building, according to FOX 5 Washington DC reporter Bob Barnard, who said the tragedy marks the third time in less than a year that a young child has fallen from a high window or balcony at the same complex.
Barnard reported from Seven Springs Apartments off Cherry Hill Road, where the child fell around 9 p.m. Thursday night. A relative told FOX 5 that the girl was 4 years old and had fallen from a bedroom window on the 10th floor.
Neighbors who were there at the time said a window screen was found on the ground next to the girl after the fall. Barnard reported that the child initially survived, but later died.
Prince George’s County Police are now investigating the circumstances of the fatal fall, while county permitting and inspection officials say they will also review this case along with the two earlier child falls at the same apartment complex.
A Fall From The 10th Floor
Barnard said the high-rise apartment building was “back in the news for the third time in less than a year,” a phrase that gives the story a painful and disturbing context before the details are even fully known.
This was not only a terrible accident involving one family. It happened at a property where two other children had already fallen from upper floors since last summer.
The girl landed near a tree, according to Barnard’s report. Neighbors said the screen from the window was beside her on the ground.
Her mother, Barnard reported, was also there.
That detail is almost unbearable to think about, because stories like this are not just public safety incidents or building-code questions. They are moments that tear through a family’s life in seconds, in a way no parent can fully prepare for.
Police have not yet said exactly how the child got to the window or what happened immediately before she fell.
The Third Child Fall In Less Than A Year
Barnard reported that this was the third time in less than a year that a young child had fallen from a high window or balcony at Seven Springs Apartments.
Last November, FOX 5 reported that a 2-year-old survived after falling from a sixth-floor window in the same building.
Before that, last August, a 3-year-old fell from a sixth-floor balcony at the complex and also survived.
This latest fall ended differently.
The pattern is what makes the case so alarming. One child fall from a high-rise is already frightening enough, but three in the same complex in under a year naturally raises bigger questions about windows, balconies, supervision, building design, safety rules, and whether enough changed after the first two incidents.
Barnard said Prince George’s County’s Department of Permitting, Inspections, and Enforcement will be investigating what happened Thursday night, along with the two incidents from last year.
The department also told FOX 5 that the buildings were constructed in the late 1960s, when building codes were different from the standards in place today.
That matters because older buildings can still be lived in by modern families with young children, even though the safety assumptions behind their windows, screens, balconies, and layouts may come from a very different era.
Neighbors Say The Death Has Shaken Families
Barnard spoke with people near the building who were clearly unsettled by what happened.
One neighbor called it a tragedy and offered condolences to the child’s family, saying, “I would hate to see something like that happen again, so I hope precautions are made.”
Another person told FOX 5 that having a child in a high-rise makes the danger feel more personal.
“I have a daughter, and she communicates with her friends on the balcony,” the neighbor said, explaining that the incident made her more aware of the risks. She said she pushes her daughter’s chair closer to the door, but added the chilling reminder that “anything can happen.”
That simple line may be the part many parents understand most. You can watch, warn, move furniture, close doors, and still feel the frightening truth that small children are fast, curious, and often unaware of danger until it is too late.
This is why window and balcony safety in tall buildings cannot depend only on a parent catching every movement at the perfect second. Homes where children live need layers of protection, because one missed moment near an unsecured opening can become catastrophic.
A Grandmother Who Knows How Close It Can Come
Barnard also connected the College Park tragedy to another child fall FOX 5 covered last summer, involving a boy named TJ Thompson.
TJ, now 3, survived a 15-story fall from his mother’s Silver Spring apartment building. Barnard reported that bushes are believed to have helped cushion his fall.
FOX 5 spoke with TJ’s grandmother, Whitley Thompson, about the death of the 4-year-old girl in College Park.
Thompson said she thinks every day about how her family is not going through the same grief.
“I definitely think about every day that we aren’t going through the exact same thing, because honestly, like you said, that could’ve been us,” Thompson told Barnard.
She said she could hardly imagine the pain of losing a child that way.
“To sit and think, and I feel so sad to even think like that,” Thompson said. “To think that your child, you’re not gonna see them anymore. There’s no more wake-ups, no more hugs, kisses. I can’t imagine that.”
Her words brought a different kind of weight to the report. She is not speaking as an official, investigator, or property manager. She is speaking as someone whose family came close to the same ending and knows that survival in a fall like that can come down to the smallest and most fragile things.
Officials Will Investigate The Building And Earlier Falls
According to Barnard, Prince George’s County’s Department of Permitting, Inspections, and Enforcement says it will investigate Thursday night’s fatal fall and the two previous falls at Seven Springs Apartments.
The department said the apartment buildings were built in the late 1960s, when codes were different than they are now.
Officials also warned families with children living in high-rise buildings to secure their windows to help prevent another fall.
That warning is important, but the repeated history at this building makes the issue feel larger than a single household’s precautions. Parents have a role, of course, but repeated incidents at the same complex should push everyone involved to ask what more can be done before another child reaches another window or balcony.
The investigation may help answer whether there were building issues, safety gaps, or preventable conditions connected to any of the three falls.
For now, what is known is painful enough: a 4-year-old girl fell from a 10th-floor bedroom window, two other young children had already fallen at the same complex within the past year, and families in the building are now being reminded in the hardest possible way how dangerous an unsecured high-rise window can be.
Barnard’s report ended with a warning that should not be ignored. For parents living with children in high-rise buildings, windows must be secured, furniture should be kept away from them, and screens should never be treated as safety barriers.
A screen can keep out insects, but it cannot be trusted to keep in a child.
Raised in a small Arizona town, Kevin grew up surrounded by rugged desert landscapes and a family of hunters. His background in competitive shooting and firearms training has made him an authority on self-defense and gun safety. A certified firearms instructor, Kevin teaches others how to properly handle and maintain their weapons, whether for hunting, home defense, or survival situations. His writing focuses on responsible gun ownership, marksmanship, and the role of firearms in personal preparedness.
