Update: A preliminary autopsy showed the 4-month-old boy discovered in a car outside an Austin Waffle House on Thursday died of heat stroke.
Previous report: Homicide detectives arrived at the scene after police found a deceased child in a car outside a Southeast Austin restaurant Thursday.
Police could not say whether heat was the cause of the child’s death, citing the preliminary nature of the investigation and the need to perform an autopsy, but confirmed that the boy had been found inside the car. Temperatures reached 100 degrees at nearby Camp Mabry on Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.
Police said someone discovered the child in the car and removed him, and bystanders performed CPR on the boy until paramedics arrived. The child was pronounced dead inside the restaurant, a Waffle House on East Ben White Boulevard.
Police said they were questioning the car’s owner in connection with the child’s death. He was cooperating but was very distraught, police said.
So far this year, 12 children have died after being left in hot cars, according to statistics compiled by San Jose State University. Texas leads the country in deaths, with 95 since 1998, research showed.
Note: Authorities said initially the child was 10 months old. But a birth certificate revealed he is just under 4 months old.
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