ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. (WNCN) – Family and friends are mourning the loss of a single mother and her 9-year-old daughter killed in a freak accident. Police said the two were electrocuted.
Kendra Pittman, 30, was staying at the Economy Inn Hotel and Suites in Rocky Mount with her three children.
A makeshift memorial has been set up outside the room they lived in.
“I shouldn’t have had to lose a daughter. I shouldn’t have had to lose a girlfriend,” said Ronald Hall. He is the father of the three children.
Hall said he’s trying to be strong for his two remaining children, but the grief is overwhelming.
“She worked hard for her kids. She did everything she could,” Pittman’s aunt Cynthia Williams said.
Hall said the air conditioner in the room stopped working and he went to the desk to alert them. Pittman reset it.
Hall then said it somehow malfunctioned and started smoking. Pittman tried to open the door and that’s when she was electrocuted. Hall said his 10-year-old son witnessed it.
“He told me, ‘Daddy, don’t open the door,’ and I’m like, ‘What?’ He said, ‘It just shocked mommy,’” Hall said.
Hall managed to open the door and called 911.
Siiyahh, 9, was injured and later died at the hospital.
“She had a lot of spunk with her. Yeah, I’m going to miss that a lot,” said uncle Herman Pittman.
CBS 17 requested the city’s inspection history of the motel for the last five years. Most recently in 2017, it was cited for exit signs, emergency lighting, and alarm systems. The Fire Marshal’s Office found open wire splices back in 2012.
The city said they still haven’t determined what caused the air conditioner to malfunction.
The family will bury Pittman and Siiyahh Sunday.
