NORTHAMPTON — Police are investigating the death of a toddler at Meadowbrook Apartments Thursday.

A Northampton Police crime scene services van was parked outside a set of gray townhouses Thursday evening near the Bridge Road entrance to the development. Two officers were sitting in a second marked police SUV. Officers on scene would not comment on the situation or how long they had been there.

Neighbor Louise Saalfrank said she was cleaning her house Thursday morning around 9 a.m. when she saw a fire engine and police outside her window.

Her neighbor, she said, came running out of her house crying.

“That poor baby,” Saalfrank said.

Across the road, Brenda Thompson said from her daughter’s home in the Meadowbrook development the family involved were good people.

“It’s a tragedy,” Thompson said. “It’s just heart-wrenching.”

Thompson said she understood police had a job to do but it was hard on the neighborhood children to see officers there all day.

The Northwestern district attorney’s office described the child as almost 2 years old. The office shared few details about the incident, but confirmed that Northampton Police and the Massachusetts State Police are investigating.

Emily Cutts can be reached at ecutts@gazettenet.com.

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