Teen Exploring Attic Falls to Death on Gym Floor

A 13-year-old girl in Colorado is dead after falling 25 feet through a gym ceiling during a youth event. The teen, identified by family as Joeylin Kenley McDonald, fell through an attic floor at an empowerment center run by the community-based organization Rocky Mountain SER and was dead when Pueblo police responded around 7pm Friday. ABC News reports that Joeylin was taking part in an after-school program. Rocky Mountain SER described an accident "during a Youth Kickback event" at its empowerment center in Pueblo, but said "the exact circumstances of this tragedy remain under investigation," per KRDO.

Police said the teen and four others "had been exploring the second floor of the building unsupervised" when they found a ladder leading to the attic and ended up walking across the attic's wooden beams, per USA Today. That's when "a 13-year-old fell through the ceiling, dropping approximately 25 feet to the gym floor below." In a statement, family remembered Joeylin, one of five siblings, as a soccer player, dancer, and beauty pageant contestant with "the brightest soul in the world," per KRDO. "Mourning the loss of such a beautiful soul will be a daily task for the rest of our lives," the statement added. (More accidental death stories.)