A nine-year-old boy was found unresponsive in his home in the 2000 block of Kennedy Avenue, Monday morning, Baltimore Police confirmed.
"He's like one of my own so it's kind of hurting me. A little piece of me is gone," neighbor Amanda Wilson said about Dante. "It's still hard to believe that he won't be back no more."
As the memorial outside Dante's East Baltimore Midway home, family friends reflect on how special he was.
"Just a bright, intelligent kid. He was a very respectful, quiet kid who loved to play basketball," a close family friend said.
"He's a good boy. My kids loved him. The whole neighborhood loved him," Wilson said.
Wilson says Dante went to school with her three sons.
"It's gonna be hard for them to come out outside in the morning when it's time to go to school, everyone gathers outside and there's no Dante," Wilson said.
She says this tragedy shows her just how precious life is.
"He hasn't even fully experienced it yet, not fully. He's only 9 years old. Halloween is coming up, Christmas is coming up. It just hurts that a little kid can't even live his life," Wilson said.
His death, hitting this tight knit community very hard.
"It's bad outside of here but around here, we stick together. We protect one another. Everybody's family," Wilson said.
"I appreciate the people that are supporting him. You just don't know what to say in a time like this. All you can do is show love and support and be strong," a family friend said.
Police are waiting for an autopsy report to determine how he died but Wilson says Dante had just broken his arm and they believe he got into the wrong medicine, thinking it was a pain medication.
A memorial has been started for 9-year-old Dante who was found unresponsive in his East Baltimore home yesterday morning. Family friends say he was a good kid who loved basketball and playing with friends. @WMAR2News pic.twitter.com/myRbbE6JSl
— Abby Isaacs WMAR (@AbbyIsaacsNews) October 9, 2018
