The daughter of a Tampa Bay Buccaneers player has died following a drowning incident at the family’s home, police has confirmed.
Two-year-old Arrayah, the youngest daughter of linebacker Shaquil Barrett, fell into a pool in the family’s backyard at around 9:30, authorities say. She later drowned and was rushed to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead.
The Super Bowl champion and his wife have three other children.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Shaq, [his wife] Jordanna and the entire Barrett family during this unimaginably difficult time,” Buccaneers officials said in a statement.”While no words can provide true comfort at a time such as this, we offer our support and love as they begin to process this very profound loss of their beloved Arrayah.”
Police say an investigation is ongoing but they do not suspect foul play.
The news comes just months after authorities confirmed that a pair of 18-month-old twins drowned in their family’s pool after their great-grandmother who suffers from dementia mistakenly left a back door open in their Oklahoma home.
The twins’ mother, Jenny Callazzo found her children, Locklyn and Loreli, unconscious at the bottom of their murky pool on Thursday. They were pronounced dead hours later, according to a DailyMail report.
Callazzo lived in the luxury $565,000 home with her grandmother, her six children and her husband, a marketing executive named Sonny, 42.
According to the report, the woman’s great-grandchildren exited the unlocked back door of their home and entered the green-colored pool filled with algae.
Authorities – who do not believe foul play is involved – are currently investigating the incident.
The twin’s 37-year-old mother had just posted a picture of her recently-born children just days before their untimely death. “Just want to play outside,” the caption to the photo read.
Witnesses in the neighborhood said that Callazzo appeared distraught as she jumped into the back of the EMS vehicle where paramedics attempted to save her children’s lives.
“These beautiful babies were taken from us too soon. Anything you can give to help with expenses would be greatly appreciated. We appreciate everyone’s love and support,” reads a GoFundMe page created to help raise funds for the family’s funeral expenses.
A representative at the University of Oklahoma Medical Center told DailyMail that child drownings are one of the most silent deaths because they cannot scream for help while submerged in water.
“Anything can happen in an instant,” Laura Gamino, an injury prevention coordinator for trauma at OU Health cautioned. “Children are attracted to water and toddlers won’t have the skills to be able to help themselves get out of water … Drowning is very sudden, and it’s very silent,” adding that “sometimes people have an idea that a child will have trouble in the water and be screaming, but they can’t because their mouth is full of water. So it’s very silent, and that’s one of the scariest things about it.”
