A four-year-old boy, known for his love of giving hugs, was found dead inside a sweltering car on a blisteringly hot afternoon in Georgia, authorities said.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed it is looking into the death of Kameron Jamel Williams, whose body was discovered last Sunday at the Summer Trace Apartment Complex in Metter.
Temperatures in the area had reached a suffocating 91 degrees Fahrenheit at the time.
According to the Metter Police Department, officers responded around 1pm to a report of a missing child.
Family members and police desperately searched the property, hoping to find Kameron safe.
Instead, a relative made the heartbreaking discovery inside a parked car, where the boy had succumbed to the punishing heat. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
‘Children who get into cars on their own are typically about 18 months to 4- or 5-years-old,’ explained Amber Rollins, director of the Kids and Car Safety organization, in an interview with WTOC.
‘About 68% of those children who get in on their own and can’t get back out are little boys. So, this situation meets the typical profile for that type of situation.’
The body of four-year-old Kameron Jamel Williams, was discovered last Sunday in a car at the Summer Trace Apartment Complex in Metter. It appears he had climbed inside by himself
Temperatures in the area had reached a suffocating 91 degrees F at the time little Kameron had climbed inside the vehicle outside his home in Metter, Georgia
Investigators believe Kameron had left his apartment on his own and began playing nearby.
Security video reportedly shows a child matching Kameron’s description entering a vehicle and never getting back out.
The Candler County coroner later confirmed the worst: the boy was beyond help by the time he was found.
As family members grieve, experts highlight a tragic pattern all too familiar in the summer months.
Rollins told WTOC that an average of 40 children die each year across the country after being trapped in hot cars, with more than half of them managing to get inside on their own but becoming unable to escape.
Although no foul play is suspected at this time, Police Chief McKinley Lewis said the case is still under active investigation.
No foul play is suspected. It’s believed the little boy had climbed into the vehicle on his own
The boy’s body was discovered last Sunday at the Summer Trace Apartment Complex in Metter, pictured above
Kameron’s body has been sent to the GBI Coastal Crime Lab Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy, with results pending.
Images from the scene showed a police perimeter near a cluster of parked vehicles at the Summer Trace complex, where stunned residents looked on in disbelief.
The GBI said its agents are working closely with the Metter Police and the Candler County Sheriff’s Office to establish a timeline of exactly how long Kameron was trapped and what could have prevented such a tragedy.
The death of the Georgia child marks the fifth hot car death of a child in the US this year.
Since 1990, at least 1,128 children have died in hot cars across the country and more than 7,500 have suffered injuries ranging from heat exhaustion to severe brain damage.
Nearly 90 percent of the victims are under the age of 3. In over half of those cases, the child was unknowingly left behind by a parent or caregiver.
