A Virginia father killed himself after he realized that his 18-month-old son he had left in a hot car had died. The unidentified father appeared to have left his child in the hot car for at least three hours on Tuesday, Chesterfield Police Department Lt Col Christopher Hensley. He later returned to find the child dead and then went back home and shot himself dead.
Police are now investigating the death of both the father and the child. When police reached the home, they found the child's body lying, while the father's body was found in the woods behind the home with a gunshot wound to the head.
Double Tragedy
Police reached the scene in Chesterfield on Tuesday after receiving a call that the father was threatening to kill himself. However, by the time officers reached, the unidentified man had killed himself. Officers found his body with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the woods behind the home. The child's body was discovered inside the home.
Police believe that the father left his youngster at a daycare facility before leaving for work in the morning. According to The Weather Channel, Chesterfield, Virginia, experienced a high temperature of 80°F on that particular day.
According to Hensley, the father discovered the kid was still in his car after learning that his child had not arrived to the daycare. Around noon, the dad's family reported to the police that he had been threatening to kill himself in the woods behind his home in the 14100 block of Aldengate Road.
"Upon their [officers] arrival, they located the people in the driveway with an open door with an empty child seat in the vehicle," Hensley said. "As they made entry into the residence, they found a deceased 18-month-old."
The father then killed himself out of guilt.
"When the father discovered the child deceased in the vehicle, he returned home and took the child inside the residence. He then exited the residence and shot himself," Hensley said.
"This is a horrible tragedy on so many levels," he added.
Out of Guilt
According to a preliminary investigation, the father shot himself in the head after seeing his son dead in the car. Officers told DailyMail.com that the father and son's names have not been made public by the Chesterfield Police.
"Our hearts go out to the family and friends that are going to deal with this, but we would be remiss in not taking the opportunity for people to take this moment and realize how important it is to obviously check your vehicles," Hensley said.
The death of the youngster is the latest in a string of recent comparable catastrophes. A 5-year-old youngster passed away in a car last week in Houston, Texas, as the temperature reached 100 degrees. Police in Georgia are looking into the death of a 3-year-old who died in what appears to be related circumstances.
Mike Bettes, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel, told "CBS Evening News" anchor and managing editor Norah O'Donnell, that if it is 100 degrees outdoors, the temperature inside a car will reach 119 degrees in just 10 minutes. The temperature inside the car would reach 134 degrees after 30 minutes, which is "unsurvivable for a tiny child buckled in a car seat or for pets."
