BOONEVILLE, Miss. (AP) — Police are investigating after a toddler was found dead in a hot car in northeast Mississippi.
Booneville Police Chief Michael Ramey said the 21-month-old boy was found dead around 5 p.m. Friday in the parking lot of Mighty Cubs Daycare. Police say it appears the child had been left in the car for several hours.
That daycare shares a parking lot with an adult day care, but police said neither business had anything to do with the child’s death.
Ramey says the child appears to have been left in the vehicle at a workplace elsewhere in Booneville and wasn’t discovered until the vehicle arrived at the day care.
“It’s definitely a tragedy for the family and friends of this young child. It’s a tragedy for the whole community here,” Booneville Police Chief Michael Ramey said. “That child was left in that vehicle for several hours, and one of the parents had went to the daycare to pick the child up that evening. That’s when it was noticed the child was still in the vehicle.”
No one has been charged, but Ramey says officers are gathering video and statements.
Ramey did not name the child, and he stressed that the daycare was in no way responsible for the infant’s death.
The body was sent to Pearl for an autopsy to determine the cause of death.
Ramey said family members are still being interviewed and said the infant’s death is “devastating” to the community.
