Shoreline mother remembers 4-year-old daughter who died after falling from apartment

SHORELINE, Wash. — A Shoreline mother is remembering her daughter who died after falling from an apartment window.

INVESTIGATION:

The incident happened last Sunday at Echo Lake Apartments on North 192nd Street in Shoreline.

“I went around the back after I heard someone screaming,” said Andre Alexander, who witnessed the aftermath. “When I went back there, I seen the young lady, the little girl had fell out the window.”

“There’s a young man who’s a real hero. This young man did over four and a half minutes of CPR by himself,” Alexander said, describing a man who tried to save the little girl’s life.

MOTHER:

KIRO 7 News spoke with Najaha Chancellor about her daughter’s death.

Chancellor said she was watching her four young children by herself from her bathroom, which is connected to the bedroom.

She said one of her kids opened the bedroom window.

Four-year-old Mi’layah was jumping on the bed near the window.

“She bumped into... the screen fell off and she went down, and I completely lost it,” she said.

“As a mother, it’s your job. It’s your job to protect your children at all costs,” Chancellor added.

The mother of four said her daughter was a caring and outgoing young girl, who often enjoyed expressing herself.

“She just made everyone happy. It didn’t matter who it was. Everyone just loved her, cared about her,” she said. “She has a beautiful soul. And I’m just never, none of us are going to get that back.”

Chancellor said she is trying to remain strong for other three young children following the tragedy.

“I’m just trying to keep it together as any mother would try to do. I still have three other kids to show I have to be strong for. So crying is going to make kids even more emotional,” she said. “I’m never ever going to get over this because it’s different when it’s your child that you lose. It’s absolutely different.”

The King County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the death as accidental.

A GoFundMe was created to help cover Mi’layah’s funeral expenses.

A spokesperson for GoFundMe said the account was verified. Chancellor said she had full custody of her daughter, and she created only one GoFundMe to help with the burial.

“Mi’layah touched so many lives during her short time with us, and we want to give her a beautiful farewell, surrounded by the love she gave so freely to others,” the GoFundMe wrote.

PREVENTION:

King County also shared several safety tips to prevent falls from windows and to help keep children safe.

1. Always supervise small children

2. Never open windows more than four inches

3. Open windows from the top down, if possible

4. Move furniture away from windows

5. Install window stops or releasable child-safety window guards

6. Never rely on window screens to prevent children from falling out a window. Screens pop out for fire safety by design – the weight of a toddler can easily push through a screen

To learn more about window stops, UW Medicine shared a brief video explaining various products.

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