The boy suffocated to death inside the vehicle.
A boy accidentally left in a vehicle for hours died on Tuesday, and police said his father was found dead, shot in the head at his home in Virginia.
Chesterfield County Police said in a press release that they received a telephone report at 11:45 am that a man 18 months he was alone in the car, perhaps for hours.
Lt. Colonel Christopher Hensley said police contacted the mother and relatives, who said the boy was not in his daycare and could be in danger. Police also learned that the boy’s father was at home making suicidal statements.
The agents rushed to the scene found the dead boy in the house and the man also dead, shot in the head.
The father committed suicide when he realized that his son had suffocated.
Investigations revealed that the father accidentally left the child in the car for hours and when he found him deadhe went home, took the boy in and then went out and shot himself, police said.
repeated tragedy
It is the eighth death of a minor from heat inside a car so far in 2022 in the United Statesaccording to a tally by the Kids And Cars organization, which has recorded more than 1,000 such accidents since 1990.
Just a week ago, in Texas, the death of a 5-year-old boy was reported who was locked up in a car for several hours after returning with his family from an errand. The mother thought that the child had escaped by himself and, as she was busy preparing for a birthday, she only noticed his absence a few hours later, according to the police report.
The facade of the house where the tragedy took place.
“The most dangerous mistake a parent or guardian can make is thinking that leaving a child alone in a vehicle could never happen to them or their family,” says Kids And Cars, which also says that more than half of all deaths from this type of accident occur when one parent didn’t know they left their child in the car.
According to the organization, 88% of children who die from heat inside a vehicle are 3 years old or younger and 55% are one year old or younger.
Greenhouse effect
The interior of a vehicle can take only a few minutes to reach a temperature of 50 degrees and it is estimated that 80% of its heating occurs in the first 10 minutes only.
The house where the tragedy took place.
However, investigations by Kids And Cars reveal that deaths from this factor have occurred in temperatures as low as 15 degrees. It is important to remember that a child’s body heats up three to five times faster than that of an adult.
“A change in daily routine, lack of sleep, stress, fatigue and distractions are things that all new parents experience and are just some of the reasons children were left in a vehicle,” says Kids And Cars.
They also recommend not using rear-facing car seats, as the driver cannot tell whether or not he is occupied by his position.
Source: Clarin
