(CNN) – Hours after the apparent accidental death of a young child who was left in a car, the child’s father took his own life, Virginia authorities said on Tuesday.
Chesterfield County Police received a call at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, indicating that an 18-month-old boy had been left in a car unattended for several hours, the department said in a statement.
Police then received additional information indicating that the child’s father was at his residence in Midlothion, Virginia, making “suicide statements.”
When they arrived, police found the child’s body in the home “and the elderly man dead from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound in the woods behind the residence,” the statement said.
The investigation shows that “the father accidentally left the child in the vehicle for several hours,” the statement said.
“When the father found the child dead in the vehicle, he returned home and took the child to the residence. He then left the residence and shot himself, “the statement said.
Police did not specify the cause of death of the baby, but the high temperature in Midlothion, which is about 20 miles west of Richmond, was about 81 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday.
An average of 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 temperatures rise much faster than adults and they can get heat stroke when their temperature reaches 104 degrees. A body temperature of 107 degrees can be fatal, according to the National Road Safety Administration.
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