5-Year-Old Who Died in Hot Car is 4th Such Death in Texas Within Two Weeks

A 5-year-old boy died in a hot car outside a San Antonio, Texas, daycare on Wednesday, July 9.

The young boy’s mother, 22, told San Antonio Police that she typically takes her son to the Pinnacle Kids’ Academy in San Antonio and then heads to work, which she said is “right next door,” per ABC News.

On Wednesday, July 9, around 8 a.m., the mother went to work and “fully” believed her son was at the daycare. But when she returned to the daycare around 4:30 p.m., the staff told her she had never dropped him off. Neither the mother nor the son has been publicly identified. 

“That is when she realized he left him in the vehicle,” San Antonio Police said in a statement, per ABC News. Once the mother returned to her vehicle, she noticed her son “was still in his car seat and unresponsive,” police said. 

Paramedics responded to the scene and “made notification that he died.”

Homicide supervisors and detectives also arrived to the scene. Officials are investigating the incident to determine whether or not the death was accidental or criminal. No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing as of Thursday, July 10.

San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said that the boy’s family is “quite distraught” and the incident was an “extremely tragic situation.”

“This serves as a tragic reminder — check the backseat and don’t leave children or pets in the vehicle here in South Texas,” McManus said.

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The 5-year-old boy is the fourth child to die in a hot car in the past two weeks. On Tuesday, July 1, a 9-year-old girl died after she was left inside a vehicle when her mother went to work at 6 a.m. Authorities were called to the Galena Park, Texas, parking lot around 2:15 p.m., per  KPRC-TV.  The victim’s mother was detained at the scene.

Days before, on Saturday, June 28, a 3-month-old boy was found dead in a locked car, after his father, Ricardo Adrian Mata, 34, forgot his infant son was in the backseat of the car. The Mission, Texas, man, who was drinking at the time of the incident, is now facing a charge of injury to a child causing death, per NBC 23.

The day before, a woman, Karen Silva, 36, was charged with injury to a child causing death after a 4-year-old boy, Logan Urbina, was found unresponsive in a daycare van, per NBC 23.

Nearly 40 children die in hot cars every year in the U.S., which is approximately one every nine days, according to Kids and Car Safety. The site also reports that approximately 88% of children who die in hot cars are age three or younger. Additionally, 55% of those who die were unknowingly left by an otherwise loving, responsible parent or caregiver.

If it’s 95 degrees outside, a car’s internal temperature could climb to 114 degrees after 10 minutes, and 129 degrees in 30 minutes, according to the National Safety Council, per NBC 5.

Additionally, children’s body temperatures heat up three to five times faster than adults. A person can suffer from heatstroke when their core body temperature reaches 104 degrees, and a core temperature of 107 degrees is lethal, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services, per NBC 5.

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A representative for the San Antonio Police Department did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for more information.