Authorities say an officer jumped a fence to rescue the sisters after they were found unresponsive in a neighbor's pool
Credit: WEAR Channel 3 News/Youtube
NEED TO KNOW
- Two girls, ages 5 and 8, were found unresponsive in a neighbor’s pool after going missing from their home
- The girls’ father was preparing dinner and searching for his daughters when police were called to the family’s Pensacola home, a police spokesperson tells PEOPLE
- The officer who found the sisters unresponsive jumped a fence to pull them from the water, police said
Two young sisters who disappeared while their father was preparing dinner were later found unresponsive in a neighbor's swimming pool in Pensacola, Fla., authorities said.
The girls, ages 5 and 8, were reported missing Monday evening after their father realized they were no longer at home, Pensacola Police Department Public Information Officer Mike Wood tells PEOPLE.
"The father was there with them. He was also there with his third child when he discovered them missing," Wood says. "He looked around the home for a little while, then they called us."
Officers responded to the 500 block of Gerhardt Drive shortly after 6:30 p.m. and began searching the family's home and surrounding neighborhood, Wood says.
About 40 minutes later, an officer spotted the sisters in a neighbor's pool.
"It was at that point when an officer saw the two girls in the pool next door to the home that they live in," Wood says. "One was on the bottom in the deep end, the other one was floating in the water in the deep end."
According to Wood, the officer retrieved a chair, climbed over the property's fence and jumped into the pool in an attempt to save the children.
"He dove in the pool and got the girls out, and they immediately started CPR on both of them," Wood says.
Emergency responders continued lifesaving efforts before the girls were transported to Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola hospital, where they were pronounced dead, Wood adds.
As investigators worked to piece together what happened, they found that the neighboring backyard was enclosed by a fence and that the pool itself was protected by a second security fence.
"The fences were secure and locked," Wood adds.
Based on the department's preliminary investigation, authorities believe the older sister may have climbed the fence before opening a gate for the younger child, though Wood emphasized that the investigation remains ongoing.
"We believe the 8-year-old did," Wood says. "She's done this before. They've seen her on top of a shed in her own backyard, so she's very athletic and adventurous and she's able to do this sort of thing."
Investigators believe the girls may have entered the pool through the shallow end before one encountered trouble as the pool sloped into deeper water.
"It's very slick, it's very steep, and it may have caught one or the other off guard," Wood says. "We believe the other went to save whichever one got in trouble first."
Wood notes that investigators do not know exactly what occurred in the water and that parts of the department's working theory remain speculative.
"We don't have any reason to believe that the father or mother were negligent," Wood says. "The father was in fact cooking dinner and had the plates and all on the dinner table, getting ready for dinner when the girls slipped out."
Authorities believe the sisters may have been in the water for as long as 55 minutes before they were found.
The neighboring family was known to the girls' family, though the children did not regularly spend time at the home, according to Wood.
"They know each other, but they're not on a basis to where they go to each other's homes regularly," Wood says.
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Following the tragedy, Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves expressed his condolences to the family and gratitude to the first responders who rushed to help, according to local ABC affiliate WEAR.
"Our hearts are completely broken over the devastating tragedy in Pensacola today involving the loss of two precious children," Reeves said in the statement. "There are no words for a heartbreak of this magnitude, and our deepest prayers and thoughts are with their family during this unimaginably difficult time."
"We want to extend our profound gratitude to our local first responders, law enforcement, and medical personnel who arrived on the scene," Reeves continued. "Thank you for your swift response, your dedication, and your tireless efforts to assist under the most painful circumstances."
"Please keep this family and our community in your hearts today," he added.
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