2-year-old girl fatally injured in southeast Calgary neighbourhood

Police are investigating after a two-year-old girl died suddenly during Thursday’s early morning hours.

Emergency crews were called to a home on Bannister Manor S.E., in the community of Midnapore, shortly after 2 a.m.

Police confirmed the girl and her mother were taken to the Alberta Children's Hospital. The child later died.

EMS confirmed a paramedic response unit arrived without delay, but a police holdback was in place for a time to ensure the scene was safe. Treatment of a “toddler-aged girl” in medical distress began immediately and continued under the care of an EMS crew that arrived minutes later.

A woman who lives nearby told CTV News she was awoken by the sound of her neighbour screaming outside.

"At the time, she was screaming, 'Why hasn't the ambulance come yet? It's been over 10 minutes,'" said the neighbour, who did not provide her name. "She was just frantically panicking, like, 'She's not breathing! She's not breathing! Why hasn't anyone come yet?'"

EMS said there was no significant delay on the call.

The neighbour said approximately six police vehicles and an ambulance arrived and that after approximately 30 minutes inside the home, the child was brought out on a stretcher with EMS performing chest compressions on her.

According to the neighbour, the child was known to ride her tricycle in the townhouse complex.

"I honestly don't see those neighbours much. They're not really the out-and-about type,” the neighbour said.

“They don't really mingle with us. They're pretty new still. I don't know much of them."

Officers removed a pickup truck from the scene that neighbours say they saw driving around the time the 911 call was made.

Homicide detectives spent much of the day in the neighbourhood, gathering statements.

Police say based on initial information, the girl's death is being treated as suspicious and that detectives are conducting interviews to better understand what happened to what appeared to be a healthy child.

Homicide detectives investigate every time a child dies, even when it appears that it was an accident or medical emergency, so while police are treating this incident as suspicious, that could change.

An autopsy was scheduled for Friday.  

With files from CTV's Austin Lee, Bill Macfarlane and Damien Wood