FRIDAY UPDATE FROM DENVERPOST.COM
West Metro Fire announced this morning that the three-year-old girl found floating in the Lakewood pool on Thursday has died. Her mother remains at St. Anthony Hospital, but her condition has not been released. The family is of Pakistani origin. The little girl’s father is in Colorado but the rest of their family is apparently in Pakistan, according to West Metro spokesperson Cindy Matthews. The girl was identified as Shannon Joel. Her mother has been identified as Aksa Joel, 34.
Lakewood – The sight of a young girl in a green bathing suit floating face down in a pool was terrifyingly surreal.
Yet when Darren Kailey, 23, reached into the Wellington Condominiums pool and grabbed the back of the girl’s suit to pull her out, he glimpsed yet another form at the bottom of the pool.
“There’s another,” Kailey said he screamed to his wife, Stephanie.
The scramble to save two lives became a blur of activity involving the Kaileys and two other passers-by. It was unclear late Thursday who the two victims were and what condition they were in.
Both were taken to St. Anthony Central Hospital. The young girl, her age estimated at between 4 and 6, was later transported to Children’s Hospital, said Cindy Matthews, spokeswoman for West Metro Fire Rescue. The woman was in her late teens or early 20s, Matthews said. It is unknown whether she was the girl’s mother or if she is related at all, she said.
The Kaileys, who married and moved into the complex at 381 S. Ames St. a month ago, were walking to get their mail about 1:30 p.m. when Darren Kailey spotted the girl in the pool.
“At first I thought it was a dream,” he said. “It wasn’t real.”
He opened the gate with his key and ran to pull the girl out. His wife called 911 from a pay phone.
“No one is ever prepared for something like this,” he said. “But when it happens, you can’t turn away.”
When Darren Kailey pointed to the body at the bottom of the 10-foot pool, a man took off some of his clothing and dived after her. Stephanie Kailey said the man was struggling to pull the limp body to the side of the pool, so she jumped in to help.
Meanwhile, Darren Kailey pulled the younger girl out of the pool and turned her over. She wasn’t breathing. Within minutes, Lakewood police officers Kelly Cain and Chris Langley arrived and began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the two victims.
When paramedics transported the two victims to the hospital, both had a pulse, Matthews said. It wasn’t known how long the two had been unconscious.
People who live next to the pool, which is fenced and has no lifeguard on duty, said it was strange that no one heard any commotion.
“There’s windows all over the place,” said Lorie Limbach, who lives in the complex. “You’d think somebody would have heard something.”
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-820-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.
