An 18-year-old woman died unexpectedly during a basketball game Thursday in The Bahamas.
The teen had not complained about her health or feeling poorly prior to her collapse, local police told The Nassau Guardian.
Observers were described as “visibly shaken” by the incident. Some were “wailing and sobbing” at the scene.
The incident occurred at a park in the Masons Addition subdivision on the island of New Providence, the most populated island in The Bahamas and location of the nation’s capital, Nassau.
Press liaison officer Chief Superintendent Chrislyn Skippings said the matter would be considered “a sudden death” pending the results of a fuller investigation, including an autopsy.
“Around quarter to 10 this morning, we understand that the victim was here playing a game of basketball when she reportedly collapsed,” Skippings told Nassau-based news publisher The Tribune.
“We are going to have an autopsy performed to find out exactly what went wrong [and] why she collapsed on the park today,” she added.
Skippings told local outlets that the victim was a Masons Addition resident, but it was not immediately known whether she had had a pre-existing medical condition.
“Nothing,” Skippings said in response to a question about any health issues the teen had prior to her death.
“We can’t say if she had any previous medical condition or known to have any,” she said.
“So that’s why we’re saying that we have to have an autopsy performed to find out what went wrong,” she explained. “Obviously, something went wrong and she collapsed.”
An unnamed source at the location who told The Tribune that he was a relative of the deceased identified her as La’Bree Bonaby.
After bystanders failled to revive Bonaby, they contacted EMS, who pronounced her dead at the scene.
Bahama Press tweeted an unverified video purported to be of the deceased, whom it called “Labree.” The outlet said that Bonaby was supposed to have been in school at the time of her death, and that she collapsed while making a jumpshot.
BP Breaking| Teen Labree collapsed and died while playing basketball on Masons Addition Park this morning. She was taking a shot when she fell on the court and died. pic.twitter.com/0wyVuMocf5
— Bahamas Press (@Bahamaspress) January 5, 2023
Skippings said the death should encourage citizens to learn CPR so that they can respond helpfully to similar incidents in the future.
“I always encourage persons to try to know the basic steps in CPR because you never know when something is going to go wrong and so with this particular incident as we talk about it I want to encourage Bahamians and residents to reach out,” Skippings said.
“You have Red Cross. You have some of the medical facilities around. Reach out to them and see if you can learn at least basic steps in CPR because one day you never know when you can use it and that very time that you use it you can actually save a life.”
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