A three-year-old boy was found dead in a scorching car after his father left him to go shopping.
The child died Tuesday in an SUV in the parking lot of a grocery store in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, when his father pulled over after work.
The Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office is treating the death as a heat-related incident.
An investigation is underway to determine exactly how the three-year-old boy died and how long the car was in the parking lot.
While the county sheriff’s office could not provide further details, it believes the incident began at a different location, News Channel 3 reported.
The child died Tuesday in an SUV in the parking lot of a grocery store in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, when his father pulled over after work (footage aired on UpNorthLive showed police cars at the scene)
Temperatures in Vicksburg, a Kalamazoo County town where the death occurred, reached above 80 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday.
If confirmed, it would be the first child to die in Michigan this year from heat in a car, according to Kids and Car Safety, a national child safety advocacy group.
It is currently unclear whether the Public Prosecution Service plans to file criminal charges against the boy’s father. The investigation is ongoing.
The death follows shocking police bodycam footage showing emergency workers desperately trying to save a two-year-old girl who had been left in a scorching hot car by her father for three hours.
Video footage obtained by Inside Edition shows Arizona father Christopher Scholtes clutching his head in pain and yelling for police before dropping to his knees.
Scholtes, 37, was indicted in court last Thursday on a grand jury charge of first-degree murder after originally being arrested on a lesser charge of first-degree murder. He has pleaded not guilty.
“Please baby, please…” he can be heard begging in the video.
“I can’t believe it,” he moaned. “Oh my God.”
His daughter was found unresponsive in his car outside his home in Marana, Arizona, after he allegedly left her there while he was playing PlayStation games.
Paramedics attend to Scholtes’ two-year-old daughter after she was left in a hot car for three hours while her father played video games
Scholtes told police that when he got home, Parker (pictured together) was asleep in the backseat and he didn’t want to wake her up
The chilling video shows police and emergency services desperately trying to resuscitate the toddler, while Scholtes panics as he paces back and forth through his house.
The terrifying video shows police and emergency workers desperately trying to resuscitate the toddler, while Scholtes panics as he paces back and forth through his house.
Scholtes’ other children, ages five and nine, told police he had been playing video games all afternoon. Detectives said surveillance footage from the area showed Parker may have been left alone for more than three hours as temperatures soared to 108 degrees Fahrenheit.
Scholtes told detectives that his daughter was asleep in the car and that, because he didn’t want to wake her, he left the engine running and the air conditioning on.
However, according to the police, Scholtes became distracted by playing his game and putting away his food.