Two-year-old Alexandra Martinez was killed on Tuesday after two temporary steel walls fell on her in an Orland Park mall.
Martinez’s four siblings, aunt, and grandmother were in an Akira store at Orland Square Mall in Orland Park, Illinois, where Alexandra was playing with her relatives, just before her tragic death.
An earlier report by a local ABC affiliate said that witnesses claim that the child was seen playing near the display before its nearly 100-pound wall dividers fell and crushed her.
Several shoppers — including a doctor and a nurse — attempted to assist the little girl, but after being transferred to the Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, she died from her injuries. Orland Park Police are now investigating.
A statement from Eric Hsueh, one of the Chicago-based Akira’s co-owners, said, “[The company is] devastated by this tragic event. We are working to collect all the details.”
“Our deepest sympathies go out to the family of the child,” a spokesperson for the mall said. “Questions regarding this tragic accident should be directed to Akira or to the Orland Park Police Department, which is conducting an investigation and can answer questions.”
Akira will partially reopen today, though the shoe section in which the death took place will remain closed until the city can perform an inspection.
Orland Park Chief of Police Timothy McCarthy praised the “heroic efforts” of first responders and fellow shoppers, saying, “Everything that could have been done was done under the circumstances.”
Asked for any advice he might have for parents to avoid similar tragedies in the future, he struggled to answer. “Don’t know what to tell them,” an emotional McCarthy said. “Watch your kids. Watch your grandkids.”