3-Year-Old Boy Dies in Hot Car Outside Fla. Preschool Where Both His Parents Worked

Mar. 15, 2025

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 theMiami Herald, ABC affiliateWPLGandNBC 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, theHeraldreported.

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.

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.

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Officials believe Tauber was one of several children in the family who attended the preschool where his parents work, according to theHerald.

Temperatures in the Miami area hovered around 93 degrees on Monday, the outlets reported. The heat index was about 101 degrees.

Detectives are investigating the boy’s death, according to WPLG.

It is illegal in Florida to leave a child under 6 years of age “unattended or unsupervised in a motor vehicle, according toa 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, theNational Safety Councilreported. 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 fromKids and Cars.

In total, more than 1,000 children have died in hot cars since 1990.

source: people.com