A toddler found in a hot vehicle in the Greater Toronto Area died after being exposed to sweltering temperatures for a prolonged time, police have confirmed.
No charges have been laid in the death of the child, described by Halton Regional Police as a three-year-old boy. Police say their investigation is ongoing.
The child was found in a vehicle in Burlington, Ont. Wednesday around 5:30 p.m. by a “hysterical” man who told a 911 dispatcher that the boy wasn’t breathing. When police and paramedics arrived moments later, it was already too late. The boy was pronounced dead at the scene.
The circumstances that led to the little boy’s death remain unclear. Police have not identified the child or said whose vehicle he was in.
The identity of the man who called police is unknown. Following the child’s death, officers were seen consoling an emotional man in the parking lot.
Police said Thursday that a post-mortem determined that the child’s preliminary cause of death was hyperthermia. That finding is “consistent with the child being left in a vehicle and exposed to high temperatures for an extended period of time,” police said in a press release.
The vehicle, a grey Ford Escape, was parked outside a building used by several businesses, including Crossroads Global Media Group, a studio for a Christian television show 100 Huntley Street.
The owner of the building told CTV News Toronto that he knows the boy’s family, who are members of his building ownership team.
100 Huntley Street acknowledged the child’s death on air Thursday and interviewed a pastor, who offered advice for coping with loss. The show’s website called it “a day of mourning here at Crossroads.”
A vigil for the child and his family was held Thursday inside the Crossroads Centre.
With files from CTV Toronto
