7-year-old Opelika boy found unresponsive at day camp June 21, dies of anoxic brain injury

A 7-year-old Opelika boy was declared brain dead from an anoxic brain injury Thursday, June 28, after he was found unresponsive at a day camp at the Opelika Covington Recreation Center, according to a press release from Lee County Coroner Bill Harris.

The boy, Liam Kawaguchi, was found unresponsive Thursday, June 21, at the camp. Opelika Police and Emergency Medical Services were called at approximately 11:40 a.m. on June 21, to assist Kawaguchi.

When police and EMS arrived, there was someone performing CPR on Kawaguchi, according to Harris.

He was taken in an ambulance to the East Alabama Medical Center emergency room and later flown to Children’s Hospital of Alabama in Birmingham, Alabama, in critical condition.

Kawaguchi’s condition did not improve once he was taken to Children’s Hospital of Alabama, and he was declared brain dead Thursday, according to Harris.

His cause of death is an anoxic brain injury, meaning his brain was deprived of oxygen, according to Harris.

The Alabama department of forensic sciences medical examiner’s office in Montgomery, Alabama, has scheduled a postmortem examination of Kawaguchi.

The Opelika Police, Lee County Coroner’s Office and the Alabama department of forensic sciences continue to investigate Kawaguchi’s case.