[A] 4-year-old boy died in a drowning accident in a pool at a Montpelier residence Friday, police say.
Montpelier police and medics responded to a report of an unresponsive child at a Terrace Street residence Friday evening at 8:39 p.m. after the boy was pulled out of a swimming pool on the property.
During a party, some attendees had noticed that the child, Hunter Wiltse, of Barre, was missing and started searching the house and around it.
A 16-year-old at the party put on goggles and looked for the child in the pool, finding him at the bottom of the deep end, according to police.
“The visibility of the water was limited, and the bottom of the pool was not visible from the surface,” the Montpelier Police Department press release states.
The teenager pulled the Wiltse out of the water and started performing CPR.
Police say that when medics were responding to the child, 15-20 attendees, including juveniles and adults, at the party became “extremely upset” and the scene became “somewhat chaotic.” The Vermont State Police and Berlin Police Department were called in to assist Montpelier police.
According to police, the property owners, who were not at the residence at the time of the incident, initially refused a police request for consent to document the scene. Police returned on Saturday with a warrant.
Police and the Department for Children and Families are investigating the incident.
