A 4-year-old Philadelphia boy was struck by a passing vehicle died just hours after he'd attended his father's funeral.
Law enforcement officials in Chester told My Fox Philly that Carder Brown returned from his dad Derrick's wake on Saturday afternoon and was exiting a parked gold Dodge Charger to run to his mother when he was struck by a van driving down Upland Street at East 11th.
The driver of the van stopped and stayed at the scene until emergency response teams showed up. An initial investigation suggested the tragedy was an accident, and the motorist has not yet been charged.
Authorities immediately transferred Carder to Crozer Chester Medical Center, and pronounced him dead on arrival.
Carder's aunt Denise Brown said she held the child and told him to hang on while passerby who witnessed the event called the police.
"I was coming down the street when he got hit, and I seen him laying on the ground and I was holding him, and telling him to hold on," she told Fox 29. "But I think he was already dead."
Carder's father Derrick was killed after being fatally shot last week. Family members said Carder's dad was an innocent bystander who got caught in the crossfire of a shooting nearby.
The grief-stricken family also lost another relative to gun violence in October, NBC Philadelphia reported.
"You bury the dad, and then the little boy gets hit," family friend Kath Pappas told reporters during an interview this past weekend. "Of course that's sad, it's overwhelming, it's not even believable."
Chester Mayor John Linder, a friend of Carder's grandmother, expressed his sadness at the chain of tragedies on Sunday.
"You can't explain it," Linder said. "No one wants to go through that: you bury your son and then your grandson dies in the same day. Our hearts and prayers go out to the family."
Philadelphia News, Weather and Sports from WTXF FOX 29
