A toddler has died in Florida after he was left in his parents’ hot car outside the preschool where they both worked, per multiple reports.
Police said a 3-year-old boy was found unresponsive inside a car outside the Lubavitch Education Center in Miami Gardens on Monday afternoon, according to the Miami Herald, ABC affiliate WPLG and NBC Miami.
The Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner has identified the victim as Sholom Tauber, NBC Miami reported. Tauber died of hyperthermia, and his death has been ruled an accident, per the outlet.
The boy was believed to have been in the car for as many as six hours, the Herald reported.
Neither the MGPD nor the medical examiner immediately responded to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Rabbi Benzion Korf, dean of Lubavitch Education Center, said in a statement released late Monday that the boy’s parents were staff members at the school.
“This tragedy hits close to home, and many in our school community have been affected by it. No words can capture the heartbreak and sadness we feel,” Korf said, per the outlets.
The rabbi also said a therapist and grief counselor would be made available on Tuesday. He did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Officials believe Tauber was one of several children in the family who attended the preschool where his parents work, according to the Herald.
Temperatures in the Miami area hovered around 93 degrees on Monday, the outlets reported. The heat index was about 101 degrees.
Officials arrived on the scene around 3:45 p.m., and Tauber was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to WPLG and NBC Miami.
The boy’s body was transported Monday night by the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office to the Jackson North Medical Center, per WPLG.
Detectives are investigating the boy’s death, according to WPLG.
Police are hoping to obtain surveillance footage from the school or any nearby buildings through a search warrant, the Herald reported.
It is illegal in Florida to leave a child under 6 years of age “unattended or unsupervised in a motor vehicle, according to a Florida statute.
Violators can face a third-degree felony if the child suffers “great bodily harm, permanent disability, or permanent disfigurement” as a result of being left alone in a vehicle.
Ten child hot car deaths have been reported in 2022, the National Safety Council reported. Twenty-three child hot car deaths occurred in 2021.
Florida has recorded the second-most child hot car deaths between 1990 and 2021 with 107 fatalities, according to data from Kids and Cars.
In total, more than 1,000 children have died in hot cars since 1990.
