CPSO: Toddler pulled from Black Bayou Lake has died

CADDO PARISH, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – A toddler pulled from the water on Black Bayou Lake has died, according to the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office.

According to Caddo dispatch records, it happened just before 10 a.m. in the 15100 block of Gator Hold Freeway on the southern shore of the lake west of Hosston in northern Caddo Parish. CPSO says the child’s mother found him in the water just behind a neighbor’s home and got them out. A neighbor called 911. Caddo Fire District 9 responded to the scene and LifeAir was called.

The child was flown to Ochsner Health Shreveport, where he was pronounced dead.

CPSO says Youth Services detectives and crime scene investigators are still working to determine exactly what happened.

The child’s grandmother tells KTAL/KMSS that two-year-old Shaun Owen Fitzgerald had a birthday coming up in June and the family is struggling to process his loss amid hurtful rumors about what happened.

“He was a happy baby. He loved his daddy. He loved his mama. He loved me. He called me ‘GiGi,’ and he had my mama, which is his great-grandma. He called her gradma GiGi,” Connie Fitzgerald said. “So he was very loved. He was loved. He has his other grandma and grandpa, you know, they loved him, and he loved them. And I just think it’s rude that people is out there saying things when they don’t even have no idea what is even happening.”