Gatineau police have confirmed the death of a 10-year-old boy after a stone wall collapsed on him in Gatineau Saturday night.

Police say it happened around 9 p.m. on Saint-Vallier Street in Gatineau’s east end while the boy’s father was working on the outdoor wall.

"He was working on his backyard and his young boy was in the backyard, very close to his father, but for reasons we don’t know now, the wall fell down," said Gatineau police Lieutenant Jean-Francois Beauchamp.

Police say emergency crews tried to revive the boy at the scene, but he was pronounced dead by a doctor shortly after arriving at the Gatineau hospital.

"I find it extremely sad, and I think what really got me was seeing the police officers running towards the scene," said neighbour Alexandra Lafrance.

"I just saw the kids, the family outside, panicking...(they were) really upset," she added.

Another neighbour describes the boy's younger sister frantically crying outside the family's home after the incident.

A friend of the family said the boy's loved ones were spending time at a mosque to pray and grieve.

Neighbours say the boy is a member of the Abusheikha family who have lived in the home for a few years.

They say he attended Ecole du Vallon, a school a few blocks from the home.

Police are investigating exactly how the wall fell, and the circumstances under which it was being built.

"The investigators are going to determine with the City of Gatineau if you need a permit to build that kind of structure," said Lieutenant Beauchamp.

He said the wall was about 2 metres high and 35 metres long.

The boy's identity has not been released.

With files from CTV's Claudia Cautillo