A 40-year-old mother and her two-year-old son were killed after a fall from the concourse level of Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres, onto the street below before Sunday’s game in an incident deemed by investigators to be “suspicious.”
The names of the pair have not been released yet by authorities, though it was revealed both live in San Diego.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of life at Petco Park last evening,” the Padres said in a statement Sunday. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of those involved. We will continue to refrain from comment on the nature of the incident as it is an ongoing investigation by the San Diego Police Department.”
The pair fell from the dining/concession area on the concourse level, six stories up, onto 200 Tony Gwynn Way. Though there were attempts to revive the pair, they were both declared dead at the scene.
The consideration of the incident as suspicious is still tentative, as the investigation ramps up. The father of the child was present at the ballpark.
With crowds entering the ballpark for the Padres-Braves game, there were apparently witnesses in the area of the incident, per the San Diego Union-Tribune:
Several people who said they witnessed the fall were too shaken to talk.
A man who did not wish to be identified said his wife witnessed the fall. She told him that it appeared a toddler fell from an area with picnic tables, and the woman also fell while trying to grab the child.
A woman who declined to give her name told the Union-Tribune she was walking across the Omni hotel footbridge leading to the ballpark when the incident occurred and didn’t see the fall. She said her husband witnessed a woman and child going over “the side from the third floor of Petco” outside Section 316.