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Police in Chesterfield County said they were alerted to the situation after the boy's mother and relatives called authorities around noon to say the 18-month-old wasn't at daycare, the Richmond-Times Dispatch reported. They said the boy's father was making suicidal comments, and officers needed to get to the home immediately.
When police arrived, they found the car door open and the car seat empty, Lt. Col. Chris Hensley said in a press conference. They found the boy inside the home a few minutes later. Responders found the man in the woods behind the house with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials told reporters.
Police believe the man left the child in the care for around 3 hours as temperatures reached the upper 80s, NBC News reported.
"This is a horrible tragedy on so many levels,” Hensley said at the press conference. “Our hearts go out to the family and friends that are going to deal with this.”
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