A mother and child fell from a three story balcony before the start of a Padres game.
On Saturday, Sept. 25th, Raquel Wilkins, 40, and her son Denzel Browning-Wilkins, 2, fell from the third story concourse and were pronounced dead shortly after at Petco Park.
SDPD Lt. Andra Brown said the mother and child fell around 4 P.M. and were discovered on the sidewalk at 200 Tony Gwynn Way.
“It was described to me as about a six-story fall,” Brown said. “It’s far too early for us to have any information as to whether or not this is intentional or accidental.”
Wilkins was an instructor for the California Virtual Academies. April Warren, head of California Virtual Academies, said in an email statement that the K-12 public charter school system was “saddened” to hear about the loss of Wilkins and called Wilkins a “beloved” lead teacher who worked there for a decade.
Police investigators believe the deaths to be suspicious, but a witness believe Wilkins may have lost her balance while standing on a picnic table near the railing. The witness told NBC 7 “”The man that was with her was standing by the railing as the woman started jumping on the bench of the table closest to the railing, holding the baby in her arms. She seemed happy — laughing,” then stating “About 30 seconds or a minute later, she jumped back up and did it again, facing the man as she jumped with the baby,” the witness recalled. “I remember saying, ‘I can’t believe she’s doing that again,’ and then she was gone… From my vantage point, looking at her back, it was almost like she rolled over the railing. I told my son, ‘Oh my gosh she went over!'”
Wilkens leaves behind her fiancé and father of the child who was also at the game. The two reportedly had gotten engaged earlier that day.