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The Houston Police Department on Wednesday said a suspect has been arrested and charged with murder for the deaths of a father and his 2-year-old son found in the backseat of a stolen car.
Police didn’t disclose the name of the male suspect, 38.
The incident started on Tuesday at 1:45 p.m. local time, when police responded to a shooting and discovered a 38-year-old man fatally shot.
According to police, the victim got into an argument with a man at a shopping center. The suspect pulled out a gun and fired at the victim multiple times. Following the shooting, the suspect stole the victim’s black SUV and fled.
Police officials said officers were unaware the victim’s toddler was in the backseat of the vehicle until 6:36 p.m. local time when a woman contacted the police about her missing son and husband.
“We never knew about the child until she called,” Houston Police Executive Assistant Chief Larry Satterwhite told reporters during a press conference.
With the information provided by the woman, police were able to determine that her husband was the shooting victim.
Investigators found the stolen vehicle about 30 minutes after her call and more than 10 miles away from the crime scene.
The child was left in the locked car with the windows rolled up on a day when the temperature reached the mid-90s.
Officers broke the car windows and tried to aid to the child.
“Sadly, it was too late. The child had passed in the car,” Satterwhite said. Satterwhite said a cause of death for the toddler hasn’t been determined pending an autopsy.
“It could be something like heat exhaustion, we just don’t know,” he said.
Additional information will be posted on the Houston Police Department’s official Twitter account.
Police said they will release the suspect’s name and booking photo once charges are filed in court.
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