Prayers Up! 8-Year-Old Missouri Boy Passes Away After Swing Set Falls On Him

A Missouri family is grieving their 8-year-old just weeks before what would have been his ninth birthday. Cortez Williams Jr., lovingly known as CJ, passed away within hours of a children’s swing set collapsing on him. The death shocked his loved ones, mainly because CJ didn’t have much external injury when they first freed him from the playset.

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More Details About The Swing Set Incident

The St. Louis County Police Department released a report on September 22 about what happened to CJ. It cited the date and time of the swing set accident as the day before, around 6 p.m. Officers from the city’s North County Precinct responded to a call for sick service. When they arrived at the home on the
11300 block of Larimore Road, Cortez Williams Jr. was found unresponsive.

During their initial investigation, 8-year-old CJ was “playing on a backyard swing set when it collapsed,” per the press release. After the set collapsed, it trapped Williams Jr. under a crossbar. Family members ultimately freed the child, who reportedly “only appeared to have minor injuries. At some point later, CJ became unresponsive. After being transported to the hospital, doctors pronounced him dead.

Father Of Cortez Williams Jr. Speaks Out

WUSA9 also caught up with Cortez Williams Sr., who gave an emotional interview about losing his son during what was supposed to be a chill Sunday afternoon. The father told the outlet he had dropped his 8-year-old off at his mother’s house that morning. Then, several hours later, he got the shocking FaceTime call from his daughter. On it, she was allegedly crying and saying CJ wasn’t responsive. At the time, Williams Sr. said the only thing going through his mind was making it back to his son.

After other family members freed CJ, his dad said he didn’t show any apparent signs of injury, such as bleeding. He had “a little scratch on his stomach,” but that was about it. And his behavior appeared normal, except for expressing sleepiness.

“They said he was talking, responding, asking for water and something to eat,” Williams Sr. said. “The only thing he kept saying was that he wanted to go to sleep.”

While CJ napped, his mother made him something to eat, per Williams Sr. About an hour after that, things worsened, the dad said. When he woke up and walked around, he collapsed. Still, he had no injuries and kept asking for water and something to eat.

“…So they gave him some water, and she was finished cooking the food, and they said he was quiet for a while,” his father told WUSA9. “Next thing you know, they said he wasn’t responding anymore.”

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