Sunland Boy Dies in Fall on School Steps
A 12-year-old Sunland boy died Thursday after he fell on steps of his junior high school, authorities said.
Shane Prince, a seventh-grader at Mount Gleason Junior High School in Sunland, died at 4:14 p.m. at Verdugo Hills Hospital in Glendale, about an hour after he fell on steps leading to a grassy, open square in the middle of the campus, Principal Patricia Joe said.
Shane was taken to the hospital with head injuries. The exact cause of death was still undetermined Friday, a hospital spokeswoman said.
“It was an accident. He apparently tripped while running upstairs,” said Wes Mitchell, assistant police chief of the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Witnesses said Shane was running alone and was not playing on the steps, Mitchell said Friday.
The school has established a fund for the boy’s family and held a brief memorial service Friday.
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