7 Unsupervised Children, Including Infant, Overdose On Sleeping Pills At Virginia Home

Seven young children — including an infant and three toddlers — were rushed to the hospital from a Virginia home on Wednesday night after they overdosed on sleeping pills that were handed out by a 7-year-old boy, a report said.

At around 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 23, police officers walked in to the residence in the city of Hopewell and found four children, ages 1, 2, 3 and 4, lying unresponsive inside, WTVR reported.

Three other children, all under the age of 8, were found awake but lethargic in a different part of the house, the station reported.

Paramedics initially rushed all seven children to John Randolph Medical Center, but the two youngest children were later transported to another medical facility in critical condition.

"I don't know the details of their treatment but some are being transported to other hospitals for further treatment," Lt. Cheyenne Casale with the Hopewell Police said.

The report said police found a pill bottle from the scene but it did not have a label.

Investigators questioned the 7-year-old child and spoke to doctors at the medical center to conclude that the boy had given the children his sleeping pills.

"They were left unsupervised for a short period of time and one of the kids that have prescription medication got into it and shared with the other children here," Casale said.

Police said they are in the early stages of the investigation but will surely "find out who we can hold accountable", adding that their primary goal is to give these children a safe environment to live.

"I'm sorry. It's very emotional," neighbor Melissa Baldwin told the outlet.

"As soon as we pulled around the corner, all I could see was police everywhere. You know? And I'm like, oh my God, what happened? And you know, we didn't see him taking anybody in ambulances or anything. We missed that part, fortunately, but a close neighbor that lives on the corner basically was telling us how even the police officers were helping bringing out the children and running them to the ambulances and such," Baldwin said.

This is an ongoing investigation and no further details were revealed at the time of this writing.