What to Know
- William Chen, 5, fell three stories to his death from the window of a Queens condominium Sunday afternoon
- The boy’s grandparents were looking after him on the second floor of the condo at the time; he went up to the third floor and somehow fell
- Witnesses said he landed in a stairwell below; no arrests have been made
Authorities are investigating the mysterious death of a 5-year-old boy who plunged three stories from a third-floor window of a Queens condominium.
The grandparents of the William Chen were looking after the boy on the second floor of a condo near 99th Street and 37th Avenue in Corona Sunday afternoon, authorities have said. Chen went up to the third floor to use the bathroom and somehow went out the window and fell.
Witnesses said he landed in a stairwell below.
"I saw one of the members of the family screaming the name of the boy and then I saw them coming downstairs," Jorge Urvalgao said. "I saw he went down to the basement and carry the baby up."
It's unclear when the boy's grandparents realized he had fallen. Witnesses say they took him to the hospital themselves and didn't wait for an ambulance.
"He wasn't moving at all," Urvalgao said. "His arms were already like, you know. He look unconscious."
The boy was pronounced dead at Booth Memorial Hospital. Authorities say he had severe trauma to his body.
The building is currently under construction and is not yet occupied, thus there were no window guards. The manager of the building says the boy's grandparents are the owners and that they had come to look at the project.
Local
Video from the scene showed detectives on a third-floor balcony and in the stairwell below. No arrests have been made.
