SHELBY COUNTY, Ala. – Officials have identified two Alabama toddlers who died last weekend after climbing into a vehicle outside their Montevallo home.
According to AL.com, the brothers, 3-year-old Daniel Garcia and 1-year-old Ivan Salazar Jr., appear to have died from pediatric vehicular heatstroke, according to an autopsy performed by the Shelby County Coroner’s Office.
The incident occurred Saturday afternoon outside a home off County Road 25, the news outlet reported. The children went outside the home, somehow got into the vehicle and were locked inside it for more than an hour, authorities said.
Family members searched for the children and finally found them unresponsive in the vehicle at about 3:30 p.m., AL.com reported. Both boys were later pronounced dead at an area hospital.
Shelby County Coroner Lina Evans told AL.com that the boys’ parents were unaware that the children had gotten out of the home. She called the incident “unfortunately just a tragic accident,” according to WIAT.
