08:40 AM PDT on Tuesday, September 30, 2003

By JIM PARKER / KGW.com

GRESHAM, Ore. - Gresham police were investigating the electrocution death of a two-year old boy on Monday evening, authorities said.

The boy was electrocuted while playing outside his family's apartment near 162nd and Burnside, Officer Grant McCormick said. The incident happened about 5:45 p.m.

El Porvenir Market is attached to the boy's apartment. (KGW photo)

McCormick said the boy had been playing outside the apartment, which is attached to the El Porvenir Market, when he somehow got ahold of a live appliance wire and put the wire into his mouth.

The child was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said. The boy's identity was not immediately released.

Detectives were investigating to determine exactly how the boy came into contact with the electrical wire.

It was the second child electrocution death to occur in the Willamette Valley in recent days.

An old electrical fan was blamed for the electrocution Friday of a baby boy in rural Yamhill County, outside McMinnville.

Sheriff's deputies said the six-month-old boy apparently touched the old fan and a metal heating vent at the same time. The child's parents were home at the time of the accident, along with two grandparents.

Paramedics were unable to revive the boy, who was identified as Jonathan Dukes.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.