DATE: Wednesday, September 10, 1997         TAG: 9709100532

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B12  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LIZ SZABO, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   56 lines

WAL-MART HOLDS SERVICE FOR LITTLE VICTIM OF ACCIDENT

A memorial service was held Tuesday at the Virginia Beach Super Wal-Mart store where a 2 1/2-year-old girl was killed after a piece of furniture fell on her.

The child's father is a Wal-Mart employee, company spokesman Dale Ingram said.

Semiyah Abdul of the 1900 block of Woodgate Arch in Chesapeake died after being crushed by a 100-pound entertainment center Monday at 4:30 p.m., police said. Semiyah had briefly wandered away from her mother and father, who works at the store and was shopping on his day off. She died at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital after being taken there by the Sentara Nightingale helicopter, said Virginia Beach Detective Paul Yoakam.

Yoakam said he has located a witness to the accident.

But police do not know how or why the entertainment center fell - whether the child pulled it down or whether someone knocked it over.

The child died from acute brain injury due to skull fractures from blunt force trauma to the head, said Dr. Leah Bush, deputy chief medical examiner.

The entertainment center - a cabinet designed to hold a television or stereo - was a display model resting on a shelf only four to six inches off the ground, Ingram said. The particle-board entertainment center was more than 4 1/2 feet high, about four feet deep and about 15 inches wide.

``It wasn't secured because it was so close to the ground,'' Ingram said. ``There's nothing to suggest there was any problem with the way it was presented. We will be working with authorities trying to get all the facts.''

Wal-Mart organized the morning memorial service after other sales associates expressed concern for the family. Wal-Mart also is providing free grief counseling to employees.

``The associates are being very supportive of the family,'' Ingram said. ``It's a deep tragedy, and the associates in the store are dealing with it as well as they can, focusing a lot on healing the family.''

The accident has inspired a Virginia Beach funeral home to donate its services to the Abdul family.

Kellum Funeral Home has offered a free burial service and gravesite at Rosewood Memorial Park and post-funeral counseling for family members. The cemetery has a special section devoted to children's graves, said general manager Neal Kellum.

``This is very difficult for the family,'' Kellum said. ``Our company feels this is the way we can give back to the community.''

The Abdul family declined to be interviewed for this story.

Semiyah's father has worked for Wal-Mart for only three or four months, Ingram said. The gigantic 24-hour superstore opened last spring with 200,000 square feet of retail space, including a supermarket. The store has remained open since the accident. MEMO: TO HELP

Police have asked that anyone who witnessed the accident call

Detective Paul Yoakam of the Homicide Squad at 427-4101.

KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT GENERAL FATALITY

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