A 5-month-old baby was found unconscious and later died Sunday morning in Community Parks Apartments, and efforts to revive the infant failed.
McComb Police Detective Shannon Sullivan declined to identify the child. He did identify her mother, Brianna Pittman, 26, and said she had been away from Sunday morning before returning to find her baby unconscious.
Police received a call about an unresponsive baby around 10:30 a.m. Sgt. Wally Jones and Officer Giovanni Greco responded.
Sullivan said the baby was found in the apartment between a bed rail and a mattress.
The cause of death is still under investigation. No charges have been filed.
Sullivan said the case is waiting on an autopsy and preliminary reports from the Mississippi Medical Examiner’s Office.
“We can’t assume anything. There could be something else that hasn’t been brought to our attention. We are actively investigating, to see if there was anyone directly involved,” he said. “It could be SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).
“There is no obvious trauma or anything that would indicate foul play. There is nothing to show that anyone is a suspect.”
Burglund resident and activist Shan McComb videotaped the scene as many Community Parks residents stood outside their apartments.
McComb said she was contacted by several people to come to the housing complex.
“When I got on the scene, there were people standing around and there were police outside,” she said.
McComb said when she arrived, she saw the child’s mother in the back of a police car, but then saw her exit the vehicle and get into a vehicle with a friend.
Sullivan said the mother may have been in the back of the police car because no one was allowed to return to the apartment while officers were inside.
Many people stood outside their apartments and looked toward Building 15. Bystanders watched intently as officers from the McComb Police Department and the Pike County Sheriff’s Department processed the crime scene.
People featured on the video commended the police for the job they did while working the scene.
Sullivan said Jones and Greco took the baby to nearby Martin Luther King Drive to meet an ambulance.
McComb commended Jones and Greco for their work.
“The officer didn’t have to do what he did. He could have sat there and watched the baby. He did try. A lot of people always talk about the bad the police do, but never want to speak up when they do something good. There are good officers and bad ones,” she said.
