California boy retrieving football killed by electrified fence

FRESNO - A 12-year-old boy died after he was electrocuted when he tried to retrieve a football and touched a chain-link fence that had become electrified, authorities said.

Adrian Antunez died Monday at a hospital, four days after he and other children were playing at their apartment complex in Fresno, California, when the ball they were throwing fell between a cinder-block wall and a chain-link fence. When Adrian went to recover the football, he touched the metal fence and collapsed, the Fresno Bee reported Wednesday (http://bit.ly/2yoacMm ).

Adrian's family, friends and former teachers held a prayer vigil Tuesday evening near the fence. Members of his soccer team signed two soccer balls - one to give to his mother, and a smaller ball to be buried with him.

An investigation showed a bare wire and a metal conduit that had been installed to power video surveillance cameras accidentally touched the chain-link fence, said Fresno Police Lt. Stephen Viveros.

City officials said the wiring was improperly done and that the property manager must remove the wiring by Friday or face a fine.

A telephone message left Wednesday seeking comment from the building's owner, JMY Properties I LLC, in Rolling Hills, California, was not immediately returned.

Adrian's mother, Victoria Antunez, expressed appreciation for how many people turned out to support her family and remember her son. She said she planned to take legal action against the apartment manager in hopes of preventing future tragedies.

"Today was my son and tomorrow it could be someone else's son," she said. "I don't want any mother or any child to go through what I am going through right now."