by Guy Page

An infant drowned at a Main Street home Friday,  October 4, Burlington police say.

The Burlington Fire Department responded shortly after 1 p.m. a 278 Main Street structure that according to Vermont News First reporter Mike Donoghue as a family shelter for COTS (The Committee on Temporary Shelter). It was reported that the mother was performing CPR. 

Officers responded and, along with members of the Burlington Fire Department, they assumed those resuscitation efforts in an attempt to revive the child. The child was removed to the University of Vermont Medical Center but, despite the best efforts of first responders and medical personnel, the child was pronounced deceased. 

Representatives of the Medical Examiner’s Officer and the Chittenden County State’s Attorney’s Office were notified, as is the case with all untimely deaths. Owing to the child’s age, the Chittenden Unit for Special Investigations, or CUSI, was notified as well.

The family shelter is across the street from Edmunds Middle School in downtown.

COTS says the Main Street Family Shelter operates year-round, providing emergency shelter for up to 10 families at a time. It has housing support services and specialized programming for children. BPD did not state in its initial press statement that the fatality occcurred at a community shelter.

An autopsy is expected, authorities say.