Toddler Found Dead in Stolen SUV After Father Was Fatally Shot: Police

A 2-year-old was found dead inside a stolen SUV after his father was fatally shot during a meetup in Texas, according to Houston police.

Police said the 38-year-old father had met up with the suspect at El Camino Del Rey Street, in the Gulfton area, before the two got into an argument at about 2 p.m. on Tuesday.

At one point during the argument, the suspect pulled out a gun and fatally shot the father multiple times, according to TV news station KHOU in Houston.

So far this month, 23 people in Houston have been fatally shot, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a database that collects information about shootings across the U.S. It also found that 71 people across Texas had been shot to death in September.

Following the latest shooting in Houston, the suspect took off in the father's SUV while a toddler was inside the vehicle. As police tried to find the suspect, they received a call at 6:30 p.m. from a woman who reported that her husband and child were missing.

The woman gave officers enough information so they could determine the man who was shot dead was her husband, according to KHOU.

Officers said they did not know a child was inside the vehicle until the woman called them. After being given a description of the vehicle, police found it on Elm Street near Renwick Drive. Officers found the child unresponsive in the back seat.

Police broke window glass to get to the child, who was dead. While an autopsy has not been done yet, officials said the cause of death could have been heat exhaustion.

The suspect, who remains on the run, was described by police as a slim Black man. He was last seen in a surveillance video wearing a white shirt with black shorts and a black Raiders cap. He also appeared to have long facial hair around his chin.

Anyone with information has been asked to call the Houston Police Department's (HPD) Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers of Houston.

Newsweek has contacted the HPD for comment.

There have been numerous tragic cases where children across the U.S. have died after being left in hot cars.

Last week, a 3-year-old girl was found dead in a car in California. Police had initially been called about an unresponsive child in a car on Spruce Street in Indio. Emergency personnel later pronounced the child dead. Temperatures in Indio reached 95 degrees the day the child died.