Chesterfield County police received a call at 11:30 a.m. ET Tuesday indicating that an 18-month-old boy had been left in an unattended vehicle for several hours, the department said in a statement.
Police then 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 house “and the adult man killed by an apparent self-inflicted bullet wound in the woods behind the residence,” the statement said.
The investigation indicates that “the father accidentally left the child inside the vehicle for several hours,” the statement said.
“When the father discovered the dead child in the vehicle, he returned home and took the child inside the residence. He then left the residence and was shot,” the statement said.
Police did not specify the cause of the baby’s death, but the high temperature in Midlothian, which is about 20 miles west of Richmond, was about 81 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday.
On average, 38 children under the age of 15 die from heat stroke each year after being left in a car, according to the National Safety Council. Children’s body temperature rises much faster than adults and they can start to suffer a heat stroke when their temperature reaches 104 degrees. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a body temperature of 107 degrees can be fatal.
Editor’s Note: If you or a loved one has witnessed suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or text TALK at 741741