Boy, 11, who died after falling through Victoria Park CI school skylight scaled roof with friends

Police have deemed the death of an 11-year-old boy, who fell through a skylight on the roof of a North York high school Friday, as not suspicious.

Toronto Police responded to an “unknown trouble” call at Victoria Park Collegiate on Wallingford Rd. — near Victoria Park Ave. and Ellesmere Rd. — around 5:20 p.m.

Police said the boy fell over nine metres and despite and an emergency run to hospital, he was pronounced dead.

“We know from our investigation so far, that five youth managed to scale the school and mount the roof over the gymnasium,” Toronto Police Insp. Paul Rinkoff told reporters at the scene Friday evening.

“Unfortunately, and tragically, one of the youths who was just under 12 years of age, fell through the skylight.”

Toronto District School Board spokesperson Ryan Bird said the school was nearly vacant at the time of the incident.

“Typically, obviously, students would have been gone from the school, most of the teaching staff and we don’t really have permits in our schools right now, just given we’re in the middle of a pandemic,” he said, “so I believe it was largely the caretaking staff that were among others that were in the building at the time.”
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