key point
- After the shooting, the suspect fled the scene in the victim’s SUV
- The vehicle with the body of the victim’s son was found hours later
- Police believe child died after being left in SUV for too long
Houston police are investigating the death of a 2-year-old boy who was found inside a stolen SUV hours after his father was shot and killed in a parking lot in southeast Houston, Texas, Tuesday afternoon.
Police responded to reports of a shooting on El Camino Del Rey Street around 2 p.m. When they arrived at the scene, they learned that the 38-year-old shooting victim had met another man for unknown reasons, KHOU News report.
The two allegedly quarreled during the meeting, after which the suspect pulled out his gun and shot the victim several times in the chest. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Meanwhile, the suspect fled the scene in the victim’s SUV.
At around 6:30 p.m., Houston police received a call from a woman who said her husband and children were missing. When the woman provided details of her husband and children, police reportedly linked the dots and concluded that her husband was shot and killed on El Camino Del Rey Street. ABC13.
Police further stated that they did not know there was a child in the stolen vehicle until the woman reported it.
“We quickly realized (the original victim at the scene) was her husband,” said Houston Police Chief Larry Satterwhite. “We didn’t know about the child until she called.”
Within 30 minutes of searching the area, officers located the SUV on Elm Street, near Renwick Drive, and found the child unresponsive to the locked car’s reverberation.
They broke the car window to retrieve the 2-year-old, but he was dead. Police believe the child died of heat stroke after staying in the car for a long time.
Meanwhile, unidentified suspects are on the run. Police are asking anyone with information about him to come forward. They released surveillance footage of the suspect, who is a slender black man.
“A mother lost her husband, she lost her 2-year-old. We’re asking for help,” Sutterwhite added.
Police share more detailed description of suspect in a document tweet“The suspect is described as a black male wearing black shorts, a white shirt and an Oakland Raiders hat.”
It has not been revealed whether the deceased and the suspect knew each other.
