Oklahoma toddler twins drown in backyard pool after grandmother left door open, officials say

An Oklahoma family is grieving after their 18-month-old twins drowned in a backyard swimming pool.

Jenny Callazzo said she discovered Locklyn and Loreli Callazzo in the pool on March 16, according to Oklahoma City Fire Battalion Chief Scott Douglas.

He said first responders found Locklyn and her sister Loreli on the ground and immediately began patient care. The children’s hearts had stopped beating, he said, and they had no pulse.

“The mother explained that she was homeschooling an older child while the younger ones were playing in the living room,” Douglas said. “The grandmother left the back door open, leaving an exit to the swimming pool. The mother said the longest they could have been in the pool was 10 minutes. ”

Locklyn and Loreli were taken to an area hospital where they were pronounced dead.

Douglas said the Callazzos did not have a pool fence and there was “open access”. The battalion commander could not tell if there was an alarm on the back door leading to the pool.

In Oklahoma, backyard swimming pools must be surrounded by a fence at least 4 feet or 48 inches high with self-closing safety gates.

Oklahoma City Police Department Capt. Valerie Littlejohn said the investigation into the toddler’s death is “still open”.

Dawn Lemon, the twins’ godmother, said the couple were “inseparable”.

“hey, they didn’t want separate chairs. They wanted to sleep together. You never saw one without the other,” Lemon said.

They had four siblings, including 17-year-old twin brothers.

Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional death in children ages 1 to 4, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There are nearly 300 drownings of children under age 5 each year in swimming pools, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.