Boy, 4, drowns in Shirley backyard pool, police say

A 4-year-old boy drowned Saturday evening in a backyard pool in Shirley, Suffolk County police said.

Justin McConville, whose address was not released, was with his mother at a backyard barbecue at the home of his mother's friends on Alcolade Drive East. The host of the barbecue discovered the boy at the bottom of the 4-foot, above-ground pool at 7:11 p.m. He pulled him from the pool and family members did CPR until an ambulance arrived.

Mastic Beach Rescue took Justin to Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center in East Patchogue, where he was pronounced dead. Suffolk homicide detectives are investigating.

A man at the Alcolade Drive home, who declined to give his name, said he was still in disbelief and too distraught to talk about Justin's drowning. He said he didn't sleep Saturday night while grieving over the loss.

"It's just a senseless tragedy you see happen all too often, but you never think it's going to happen to you," he said.

With John Asbury