'I’m going to watch this kid die.' Harrowing 911 call from passerby who watched helplessly as 10-year-old drowned in icy pool is released

Helpless: DeAngelo McMullen, his 11-year-old brother and a 10-year-old friend were playing on a drainage pond when they fell through the ice

A harrowing 911 call reveals how a helpless bystander witnessed the tragic drowning of a 10-year-old Maryland boy by telling the dispatcher, 'I'm going to watch this kid die.'



The panicked caller frantically tries to get emergency services to arrive at the icy Gaithersburg pond in time to save DeAngelo McMullen - but gives a sad running commentary as he watches the boy lose his battle to stay afloat.



Unable to help McMullen, the caller describes how he can do nothing but watch as the 10-year-old, his older brother and their friend tried to get to the bank over the ice on top of the stormwater pond on Monday.



Little McMullen, his 11-year-old brother and their 10-year-old friend were rather foolishly playing on the ice when they fell through into the pond.



The caller witnessed the three boys struggle and made the 911 call as they stood and watched the horror show unfold.



'I see three kids in a pond. It looks like it’s iced over and muddy and I see them and they’re stuck,' says the man to the dispatcher.



The 911 operator tells the man that there is help coming, but sadly when they arrived McMullen had already fallen under the water.

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Emergency: This is the scene at the Gaithersburg stormwater pond this week where three young boys fell into the icy water - leading to the deaths of one of them

His brother and their friend had managed to make it to safety and the Montgomery County Dive Team searched the murky, muddy water for 25 minutes before they found him.



'It took about 30 minutes to find the child. This is a sediment pond; it’s a catchment pond. There’s a lot of mud, a lot of silt, so the water is not clear at all,” said Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service Assistant Chief Scott Graham.

He was transferred to the nearest hospital in a critical condition but he did not survive.



His family released the following statement Tuesday:



'We would like to thank all of our family, friends, and the community for their support during this difficult time. Please respect our privacy while our family grieves the loss of our very special child.'

Help: The two survivors were quickly rescued and taken from the scene wrapped in blankets

The two other boys were also taken to an area hospital, where they were treated and released.



Neighbors of the family said that the boys had been seen in the past playing on the frozen pond in the past.



'Tragic, man. Tragic. I see a lot of kids playing here all the time. I never would imagine something like that happening,' said neighbor Jesse Heath.



But Assistant Fire Chief Scott Graham repeated warnings not to venture onto frozen water.

