Toddler dies after movable wall falls on her at Illinois mall
Police were investigating an "unfortunate accident" at Orland Square Mall in Orland Park in which a movable wall killed a 2-year-old girl, officials said.
The girl, Alexa Martinez of Harvey, was with her grandmother, aunt and four young relatives at Akira shoe store just before 2 p.m. Tuesday when the incident happened, Orland Park Police Cmdr. Eric Rossi said.
Rossi said the children, who were between ages 2 and 15, were apparently playing inside the store when one of them made contact with a movable wall structure that fell and struck the toddler. She was trapped underneath the structure, officials said.
Rossi estimated the structure was about 8 feet tall and weighed between 75 and 100 pounds.
Bystanders rushed to the child's aid and lifted the wall off of her, and a nurse and doctor who had been shopping elsewhere in the mall responded to the store after hearing the commotion and rendered aid until police and paramedics arrived, he said.
Rossi said Alexa was knocked unconscious and unresponsive by the blow but regained a pulse briefly before being transported to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where she was pronounced dead.
_Daily Southtown
