(Trends Wide) — Hours after the apparent accidental death of a young boy who had been left in a car, the boy’s father took his own life, Virginia authorities said Tuesday.
Chesterfield County Police received a call at 11:30 a.m. ET Tuesday indicating that an 18-month-old boy had been left in a vehicle unattended for several hours, the department said in a statement.
Police later received additional information indicating that the boy’s father was at his residence in Midlothian, Virginia, making “suicide statements.”
When they arrived, police found the boy’s body inside the home “and the adult male apparently dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the woods behind the residence,” the statement said.
The investigation indicates that the “father accidentally left the child in the vehicle for several hours,” the statement said.
“When the father discovered the dead child in the vehicle, he returned to the house and brought the child into the residence. He then left the residence and shot himself,” the statement says.
Police did not specify the boy’s cause of death, but the high temperature in Midlothian, which is about 20 miles west of Richmond, was around 80 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday.
On average, 38 children under the age of 15 die of heat stroke each year after being left in a car, according to the National Safety Council.
Children’s body temperature rises much faster than that of adults, and they can begin to suffer from heat stroke when their temperature reaches 40 degrees Celsius. A body temperature of 41 degrees can be fatal, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Publisher’s note: If you or a loved one has thought about suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. The line provides free and confidential assistance 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for people in suicidal or distressed crisis. You can learn more about their services here, including their guide on what to do if you spot suicidal signs on social media. You can also send a message with the word TALK to 741741.
You can also call 1-800-273-8255 to speak with someone about how you can help someone in crisis. Call 1-866-488-7386 for TrevorLifeline, a suicide prevention counseling service for the LGBTQ community.
For assistance outside the US, the International Association for Suicide Prevention provides a global directory of resources and international hotlines. You can also turn to Befrienders Worldwide.
See here the lines of attention and prevention of suicide in Latin America and Spain.
