Investigators Looking For Answers In Girl's Tragic Death At Brewerytown Rita's
By Kim Glovas and Steve Patterson
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Two days after 3-year-old Wynter Larkin was killed by falling security gate at the Rita's Water Ice on Girard Avenue, owners in Brewerytown are now double checking their own gates.(read related story).
One business owner on Girard Avenue calls it a "wake up call."
Juliet Askew runs a daycare center a few doors down. She says, "When you hire a company you expect the job to be done properly."
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter said on Monday that it's time to focus on getting the facts together after Larkin was killed Saturday when the security gate detached and landed on her during a fundraiser at a Rita's Water Ice along the 2800 block of Girard Avenue in Brewerytown.
"Someone installed that grate, and how they did it, or what they did, or when it was installed, or all of those pieces of information we certainly need to get," the mayor said. "We know that there's obviously an investigation underway, both by the police and by the Department of Licenses and Inspections. Let's at least see what the preliminary information is to try and figure out what happened here."
Mayor Nutter said his heart goes out to the parents of the girl.
"What happened here is a 3-year-old girl lost her life as a result of something falling on her and we need to, at least, for a respectable amount of time, maintain our focus on the fact that there has been a tragedy," Nutter said. "We'll figure out what happened subsequent, but those parents are in pain, and I feel that pain and that's where we need to keep the focus at the moment."
Monday, police said it's too early for answers. "It's took early for me to say anything like that," Said Lt. John Standford. "We need time to conduct a complete and thorough investigation."
Meanwhile, inspectors with the city's Licenses and Inspections Department spent the day canvassing Girard, making sure the problem isn't systemic.
An investigation is ongoing.
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