7 children under the age of 8 hospitalized after taking sleeping pills handed out by another 7-year-old

 Seven children under the age of 8 years old were hospitalized after experiencing a non-fatal overdose of sleeping pills.

Authorities believe that the child who handed out the pills was also just 7 years old.

What are the details?

WTVR-TV reported that authorities arrived at a Hopewell, Virginia, apartment Wednesday to find seven children who were apparently under the influence of a drug.

Authorities said that an unnamed mother of three dropped her children off at the home of a mother of four children, who was supposed to babysit all seven kids.

Throughout the evening, the second mother was said to have left the children unattended for an undetermined period of time while she ran to the store, and returned home to find that the children "weren't acting right."

When she saw an empty prescription sleep aid bottle, she called 911.

When police arrived at the scene, they found that three of the seven children were awake and lethargic, but four — ages 1, 2, 3, and 4— were entirely unresponsive. 

First responders rushed the children to the hospital.

According to the report, three children were admitted to the facility in serious condition, while the other four remained in stable condition.

"They were left unsupervised for a short period of time, and one of the kids that has prescription medication got into it and shared with the other children," Lt. Cheyenne Casale of the Hopewell Police Department told the station. 

All children are expected to recover from the accidental drugging.

One witness, a neighbor, said that the scene was terrifying.

"As soon as we pulled around the corner, all I could see was police everywhere. And I'm like, 'Oh my god, what happened?'" she recalled. "We didn't see them taking anybody in the ambulance, we missed that part, but a close neighbor basically was telling us how even the police officers were helping bringing out the children and running them to the ambulances and such."

No charges have been filed at the time of this reporting, but both the department and children's services are investigating the incident.