DATE: Tuesday, September 9, 1997            TAG: 9709090258

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER  

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   38 lines

FURNITURE FALLS ON TODDLER IN WAL-MART, KILLING HER CHESAPEAKE CHILD STRAYED FROM PARENTS AT BEACH STORE

A 2 1/2-year-old girl died Monday when an entertainment center fell on top of her at a Super Wal-Mart store, police reported.

Police said the girl wandered away from her parents about 4:30 p.m. inside the Super Wal-Mart at Princess Anne Road and Lynnhaven Parkway.

As the parents looked frantically for the girl, an employee heard a loud crash, police spokesman Lou Thurston said.

The employee found an entertainment center - a cabinet without the television or stereo inside - lying on the floor. When the worker lifted it, the child was found unconscious underneath.

Police called the Sentara Nightingale rescue helicopter, which flew the girl to Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters in Norfolk. She was pronounced dead there soon after.

The girl was identified as Semiyah Abdul of the 1900 block of Woodgate Arch in Chesapeake.

Police said they do not know how or why the entertainment center fell - whether the child pulled it down on her or someone knocked it over.

A store manager who declined to be identified said he could not answer questions Monday night. ``We're just trying to devote our time to the family and the associates,'' he said.

The manager referred all inquiries to national headquarters in Arkansas, but an operator there said nobody was available to answer questions.

The gigantic 24-hour superstore opened last spring with 200,000 square feet of retail space, including a supermarket. The store remained open Monday night. MEMO: Police ask anyone who witnessed the accident to call Detective

Paul Yoakam of the Homicide Squad at 427-4101. KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT GENERAL FATALITY

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