Two children were struck and killed by a vehicle near Riverdale Elementary School in Prince George’s County, Riverdale Park police said Monday morning.
Officers responded at about 8 a.m. to Riverdale and Taylor roads for a “collision involving two children walking to school,” Riverdale Park Police said in a brief statement posted to X, formerly Twitter. The school is located about four miles northeast of the Maryland-D.C. border.
Prince George’s police are taking over the investigation, authorities said.
Deputy Chief Alan Doubleday of the county fire department said an emergency crew responded to the scene around 8 a.m. and rushed the two children to a hospital in “very critical” condition.
Doubleday said he did not know their precise ages but said they were about 8 years old. The driver of the vehicle that struck them remained on the scene after the crash, Doubleday said.
In a note to the Riverdale Elementary School community, Assistant Principal Melissa Moore wrote that the crash had occurred in front of the school during morning arrival time, but she offered no additional details. Moore did not indicate if the victims were students at the school.
Moore wrote that parents could pick up their children early Monday if they wanted to, an a stream of parents stood in line outside the school Monday afternoon to do that. They gripped their children’s hands and walked them out past the school’s black gates next to the playground.
“It’s heartbreaking, horrible,” Joslin Evans said as she escorted her preschooler, dressed in a dinosaur jacket.
Evans said she dropped two of her children at the school, including a fifth-grader, shortly after the crash. She saw the yellow police tape where the crash had occurred but did not know what had happened. She was back around 1 p.m. to retrieve her children.
Evans said she has seen crossing guards in the afternoons, but in the mornings she has not seen them at the intersection where the children were struck. Authorities have not said whether there were any on duty this morning.
Another parent, Candice Hebron, dropped off her third-grader at Riverdale Elementary around 7:40 a.m. and then headed to drop off his siblings at another school.
When she headed home in the direction of Riverdale Elementary around 8:10 a.m., she saw yellow tape blocking the intersection of Riverdale and Taylor roads. She checked her email and reached out to her son’s teacher directly to make sure he was safe.
If there isn’t a crossing guard at the intersection, Hebron said, she has seen police officers walking students across the street. Hebron said drivers should pay attention and be prepared to wait at least 10 to 15 minutes Monday when traveling through that area.
“I hope drivers take their time and realize there’s going to be traffic,” Hebron said. “Be patient.”
Maryland state Del Ashanti Martinez (D-Prince George’s) said in a message on X that he was greatly saddened by the tragedy.
“We seriously need to get control of roadways and create safer streets,” Martinez wrote. “Walking [in] our community shouldn’t potentially end your life. It doesn’t have to be this way.”
The fatalities come the same day six teenagers in Fairfax County suffered life-threatening injuries when a driver lost control of an SUV and it struck a tree around 5 a.m., police said. Investigators have determined speed and alcohol played a role in the Merrifield, Va. crash, and said the teenage driver has been charged with allegedly driving under the influence.