Virginia man killed himself after 18-month-old
son’s hot car death: police
A father in Virginia took his own life
after discovering he had accidentally left his
18-month-old boy to die in the backseat of a hot car on
Tuesday, according to police.
The father was out
with his son when the tragic mishap occurred and after
finding the child’s lifeless body inside the car he
raced back to his Chesterfield County home shortly
before noon and took the boy inside the residence, WRIC
reported, citing police.
Soon after the dad
arrived home, police received a call that the man was
suicidal. On the way to the house, police received a
second call from a family member who said that the boy’s
father had told them that he had left his son in the car
for as long as three hours and that the baby might be
dead, the report said.
When officers arrived at
the home, they found the car in the driveway with the
backdoor still open and the children’s car seat empty.
Inside the house they found the toddler dead, cops
said.
The 37-year-old father was found dead in
the wooded area behind the house from an apparent
self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Neither the father
nor the toddler’s identities have been released.
“This is a horrible tragedy on so many levels and our
hearts go out to the family and friends that are going
to deal with this,” Officer Chris Hensley told
reporters. “But we would be remiss to not take an
opportunity for people to realize how important it is to
obviously check your vehicles.”
Police said
they’ve remained in contact with the dead child’s mother
and other family members as they continue to
investigate.
The 18-month-old is the seventh
child to die as a result of being left inside of a hot
car this year, and the 914th since 1998, according to
noheatstroke.com, a website started by meteorologist Jan
Null that tracks such deaths.