A 13-year-old girl was allegedly buying a Halloween costume, cutting through train tracks, when she was hit and killed by an MBTA commuter rail train in Lawrence, Massachusetts, according to eyewitnesses.
It happened just after 4 p.m. Friday.
The train was en route from Boston to Haverhill.
"They were braking and I felt kind of a jolt," said one passenger on board.
MBTA Transit Police are now investigating what happened and how the girl was hit. The Essex County District Attorney's Office is also involved.
Police aren't releasing other details, but people who live in an adjacent apartment complex off Inman Street, say the area where the girl was killed is a popular cut-through. Part of the fence is removed there.
Lawrence Resident Frankie Vega believes the girl was with two other friends when it happened.
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"Two of the girls happened to cross. The other one for some reason stayed behind, but I guess at the last minute decided to cross when the train was passing by," said Vega.
At the time of the accident, a freight train was on an adjacent track.
Another resident says he takes the short-cut over the tracks everyday, sometimes with headphones in.
Mayor Dan Rivera says he'll now take a closer look at the situation in wake of tragedy.
"Were going to look into it, anything we need to do to make this a safer place we'll do that," said Rivera.
Train passengers sat on the train for hours until they were eventually bused to the Haverhill station.
On Saturday, the girl was identified as 13-year-old Jenaira Fuentes of Lawrence.
