An 8-Year-Old Has Died After Being Hit by a Falling Tombstone

An 8-year-old boy in Arkansas was killed after an aged tombstone toppled over in a church cemetery. According to CBS News, the boy was attending a birthday party at the church in Lynn on Saturday and was playing in the cemetery when the tombstone fell.

The boy, whose name was not released, was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead over the weekend. Investigators do not believe foul play contributed to his death.

The Arkansas death is the latest in a series of such tragedies that have occurred over the past few years.

In 2013, a cemetery worker in Texas was crushed by a falling tombstone, and in 2014 a 4-year-old in New York suffered a serious injury after a tombstone fell on his head. A family in Utah sued a cemetery association for negligence after a 4-year-old boy was crushed by a falling tombstone in 2012. A jury decided in favor of the cemetery last October.

Members of the church in Arkansas where the young boy was recently killed plan to support the family both monetarily and spiritually, CBS reports.

[CBS News]