Teen found dead in abandoned Baltimore building after girl says he struggled to breathe overnight
BALTIMORE, MD — A 17-year-old boy was pronounced dead at a hospital after being discovered unresponsive inside a condemned building in Southwest Baltimore, hours after a girl told officers he had trouble breathing overnight.
First responders were called to the 1800 block of West Fairmount Avenue around 9:15 a.m., where they found the teenager inside a vacant, boarded-up structure. A female at the scene told police she and the teen had been inside the building together since the night before. She claimed he began experiencing difficulty breathing around 1 a.m. and was unresponsive when she woke up hours later.
Firefighters helped remove the boy from the building and transported him to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10:35 a.m., officials said.
Detectives reported no visible signs of trauma or foul play on the teen’s body. The death is being handled as a “questionable death” pending the results of an autopsy by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
The condemned building has been previously identified by city inspectors and remains unsecured, raising questions about how the teens accessed it and why they were inside.
Police continue to investigate how long the pair had been inside the structure and what may have led to the teen’s medical episode. The name of the deceased has not been released pending family notification.
No charges have been filed, and investigators are awaiting the autopsy report to determine the official cause and manner of death.
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Key Points
- A teen boy was found unresponsive in a condemned Baltimore building and later pronounced dead at a hospital
- A female companion said he had trouble breathing around 1 a.m. before she found him unresponsive
- No signs of foul play were found, and the case is being treated as a questionable death pending autopsy
