4-year-old child found dead inside vehicle in Valley Village
An investigation is underway after a 4-year-old girl was found dead inside a vehicle in the Valley Village neighborhood of L.A.
On Tuesday, Los Angeles Police Department officers responded to a medical emergency at a neighborhood near McCormick Street and Bluebell Avenue around 3:40 p.m.
The child, who was found unresponsive inside a parked car, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Neighbors told KTLA’s Sandra Mitchell that the girl was reportedly riding in a neighborhood carpool and was supposed to be dropped off at daycare, but was somehow accidentally left inside the hot car for hours.
Footage from the scene showed law enforcement officers covering the SUV with a white tent and cordoning off the street of a residential neighborhood. Investigators were also seen entering a home.
The circumstances leading up to the child’s death remain unclear. In a brief news conference on Tuesday, LAPD detectives only released a few details and said the case may be investigated as a possible homicide.
Criminal defense attorney Lou Shapiro said he was called to the scene by the wife of the car’s driver. He only confirmed that the driver was not the child’s parent and might have been a carpool driver.
Shapiro also told KTLA that he did not know whether his client would be arrested.
“It’s always a possibility,” he said. “I’ve been told this is an active crime scene, so that could very well happen. I’m just being realistic about it.”
Officials have not provided information on the child’s identity. Detectives were seen asking neighbors for possible surveillance footage and whether they had witnessed anything.