VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Family members of 4-year-old EJ Feltes are grief-stricken and reeling over his death, which they told Channel 11 should not have happened.
“It all just happened so fast,” said MacKenzie Mobrey Hague, Feltes’ sister.
Tragically, Feltes said he drowned in the pool of a Virginia Beach oceanfront hotel on Monday.
Feltes, who lived with his family in Rochester, Beaver County, had just watched his mom and dad get married on Saturday.
“He was 4! He was a baby!” Mobrey-Hague said.
His heartbroken sister told Channel 11 during the couple's honeymoon family vacation on Monday, while his parents were out grocery shopping, that Feltes slipped out of the hotel room unnoticed by his babysitter.
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She shared a video on social media of what she said was a broken lock on the hotel room door.
From there, the family said the hotel pool was just steps away. They say the gate was not childproof either; it was open and there was no lifeguard on duty.
“I honestly feel the hotel didn’t do their job they didn’t do the proper safety precautions to ensure things like this didn’t happen,” Mobrey-Hague said.
Police in Virginia Beach are investigating the child’s death but have released few details.
The owner of the hotel told Channel 11 they are not commenting.
“He loved everybody, he was such a sweet kid,” Mobrey-Hague said. “We’re trying to be there for each other and now there’s a lot of support back home and I can’t wait to get and be a part of that support.”
Feltes was on the autism spectrum and donated his organs to research.
Click here to visit the GoFundMe account set up by Felte’s family.
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