Details Emerge in Gwinnett 4-Year-Old's Drowning

DULUTH, GA -- Police say the mother of a 4-year-old boy who drowned in Duluth Friday thought the child had run into a bedroom, but that the child was instead found in an apartment complex pool.

Gwinnett County Police have now identified the victim as Precieus Basulama.

Shortly before 4:30 p.m. Friday, police say, they were called to the Landmark at Bella Vista apartment complex, at 4015 Satellite Blvd., on a drowning report.

Two officers arrived at about the same time and saw the child's uncle performing CPR on on the deck of the complex's pool.

Precieus was transported to Gwinnett Medical Center in Duluth, where he was pronounced dead.

The boy's mother told police that he was eating in the kitchen of his family's apartment when he ran from his mother. She thought he had run into a bedroom, but when she called out to him, he didn't respond, police reports say.

After searching the apartment, the mother recruited family members and the apartment complex manager to help trying to find him. While she was talking to the manager, she said, she heard someone say that Precieus was in the water of the pool.

Surveillance video of the pool shows maintenance personnel leaving at 3:54 p.m., the boy throwing what appears to be a book into the pool at 4:03 p.m. and the uncle pulling the child out of the water at 4:22 p.m.

According to responding officers, all gates to the pool were sealed with a chain. One of the gates was found to be missing a bar, but it's not clear exactly how Precieus got into the pool area.

"This tragic event has affected the family and the local community," Gwinnett Police spokeswoman Cpl. Michele Pihera said in a news release. "Please teach your children to never swim alone. Teach your children about the dangers of a swimming pool and other bodies of water. Children tend to be drawn to water. If a child goes missing, check pools and bodies of water immediately."