Saoirse Kennedy Hill, the 22-year-old granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy, died on Thursday at the family's compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, a family member confirmed to The Washington Post.
Authorities are investigating the "unattended death," which was reported early Thursday afternoon.
"Our hearts are shattered by the loss of our beloved Saoirse," the Kennedy family said in a statement shared with media outlets. "Her life was filled with hope, promise and love."
The Cape and Islands District Attorney's Office said police responded to a home on Marchant Avenue, where the Kennedy compound is located, for "a reported unattended death," according to the Boston Herald.
"The matter remains under investigation by Barnstable Police and State Police detectives assigned to the District Attorney's Office," assistant district attorney Tara Miltimore said in the statement.
Robert F. Kennedy's granddaughter Saoirse Kennedy Hill places a white rose at the Eternal Flame, President John F. Kennedy's gravesite, at Arlington National Cemetery, on June 6, 2000. File picture: Hillery Smith Garrison/AP
According to CNN, Hyannis Fire Lt. David Webb said a person was transported to the Cape Cod Hospital on Thursday after a call for assistance came in from 28 Marchant Avenue. Hill's grandmother, Ethel Kennedy, 91, lives at the residence, the New York Times reported.
"The world is a little less beautiful today," the family said in its statement. "She lit up our lives with her love, her peals of laughter and her generous spirit. . . . We will love and miss her forever."