Father Dies in Apparent Suicide After Toddler Son’s Hot-Car Death: Police

Lorenz Duchamps
By Lorenz Duchamps
June 30, 2022US News
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Father Dies in Apparent Suicide After Toddler Son’s Hot-Car Death: Police
Police cars are seen in Virginia on May 3, 2021. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)

A father in Virginia died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after discovering that his 18-month-old son died in a hot car on Tuesday, according to authorities.

Police in Chesterfield County responded to calls shortly before noon on June 28 that a toddler had died after being left unattended in a car for several hours and that the father was at the home making suicidal statements.

Chesterfield Police Lt. Col. Chris Hensley told local agency WWBT that responding officers found a deceased 18-month-old child inside the family home and the body of the child’s father in a wooded area behind the house.

“As [officers] continued to check the perimeter of the residence, they found an adult male in the wooded area behind the house deceased from an apparent gunshot wound,” Hensley confirmed.

Hensley called the incident a “horrible tragedy on so many levels” and expressed condolences to family and friends that have to deal with the situation.

“Our hearts go out to the family and friends that are going to deal with this,” he said. “We would be remised in not taking the opportunity for people to take this moment and realize how important it is to check your vehicles.”

Neither the father’s nor the toddler’s identities have been released.

Responding officers located the car in the driveway of the home and one of the back doors was still open with an empty child’s seat inside, WWBT reported.

A preliminary investigation indicates that the father accidentally left the toddler inside the vehicle while he was at work. Officials said the baby boy was in the car for at least three hours when his father discovered him.

The man then drove home, where he took the lifeless body of his son inside the house before taking his own life, police said.

Tuesday’s hot-car death is at least the seventh child to die as a result of being left inside a car this year. On average, 38 children younger than 15 die from heatstroke each year after being left in a car, according to the National Safety Council.

The council says nearly every state has experienced at least one such death since 1998. Hot-car death tragedies often draw national attention, and sometimes also criminal repercussions.

Last week, Georgia’s highest court overturned the murder and child cruelty convictions against Justin Ross Harris, 41, whose toddler son died after he left him in a hot car for hours, saying the jury saw evidence that was “extremely and unfairly prejudicial,” The Associated Press reported.

Harris was convicted in November 2016 on eight counts including malice murder in the death of his 22-month-old son, Cooper. A judge sentenced him to life without parole as well as 32 more years in prison for other crimes.

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