Horror as Texas girl, 4, bakes to death in hot car amid soaring temperatures - after several tots fell victim to same fate
A four-year-old Texas girl sweltered to death in a hot truck after being forgotten about by her caregivers for around an hour.
Deputies from the Houston Police Department responded to emergency calls made from an apartment complex near 6500 block of Hollister Street around 6.30 pm.
Officials said that the girl was with two women and a group of children running errands in a Chevy pickup truck the entire day.
The adults later parked their car in the apartment complex and took everyone inside but left behind the toddler.
The incident comes amidst multiple reports of infants sweltering to death in overheated cars after being forgotten about by their parents. Experts warn children can start to fall ill within minutes of being locked in a car.
Deputies from the Houston Police Department responded to emergency calls made from an apartment complex near 6500 block of Hollister Street around 6.30 pm
Investigators believe the girl was left in the piping hot pickup truck for about an hour until one of the women realized the child was missing, came back outside to find her and called 911.
She was rushed to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Homicide investigators also responded to the scene and reportedly spoke to witnesses. It remains unclear if any arrests have been made.
After the incident, Lieutenant Larry Crowson of the police department warned that it is very important for parents to be aware of your child's location.
'In this type of weather, it doesn't take a few minutes to cause very serious illness or death for someone that's left in a car,' the official said.
About 40 children die of heatstroke in the United States every year after being left or becoming trapped in a car, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The majority of cases happen when a parent or caregiver forgets that the child is in the car.
At the time of the incident, the city of Houston was reportedly experiencing temperatures between 84F to 91F.
Investigators believe the girl was left in the piping hot pickup truck for about an hour until one of the women realized the child was missing, came back outside to find her and called 911
Homicide investigators also responded to the scene and reportedly spoke to witnesses
More than 950 children have died in a hot car over the past 25 years, records show.
Residents are currently being warned to brace for sunny skies and soaring temperatures that are expected to reach the upper 90s today as Hurricane Beryl makes its way towards the state.
Reports of this incident come less than a month after a tiny baby girl died after being left in the back of a hot car just two months after her adoptive parents took her home as a newborn.
Diana Sofia Aleman Roman was found unresponsive in the SUV outside her parents' home in Santee, San Diego, about 12.20am on June 13.
She had been left in the car for several hours in 63F weather when a family member found her and called 911. The baby girl was rushed to hospital but did not survive.
San Diego County Sheriff's Office detectives are investigating how Diana was forgotten in the car and who left her there. No charges have been filed.
Diana's parents Romer and Jayson De Los Santos took her home on April 11 after flying to Arizona where they met the baby girl in hospital for the first time.
Studies show temperature inside a car can rise to 104F in just half an hour on a 70F day and reach 115F in an hour. The body's organs begin to shut down at 107F.
An Arizona mother recently issued a grave warning over to parents over the common issue.
Two-month-old baby girl Diana Sofia De Los Santos, pictured with her father Romer, died after being left in the back of a hot car
Charlotte Jones was left in the car for around three hours back in 2019, her father rushed her to a local hospital where she succumbed to the heat
Angela Jones lost her 'sassy' three-year-old Charlotte in 2019 after her father forgot left her in the backseat of his car as temperatures went above 98 degrees.
The child was in the car for around three hours before her father realized.
Angela recalled the incident in a recent interview with Fox News Digital. Her husband, Scott, had just dropped off the couple's other two daughters at school before coming home to start work from his home office.
Angela said he forgot that he had taken his youngest child along for the ride. 'All of a sudden I could just hear a panic in his voice,' Angela said.
'I initially thought she had gotten into the pool or something like that and then he was like: "Oh, my God, I don't think I ever got her out of the car.'
He called 911 and Charlotte was rushed to a local hospital where she tragically succumbed to the sweltering heat.
