BRANDON, Fla. – A 2-year-old boy died after his half-sister left him inside her sports utility vehicle while she worked in a day care center near Tampa, deputies said.
Hillsborough County sheriff's spokesman Larry McKinnon said in a news release that Fiorella Vanessa Silva-Tello, 21, left Jacob Manchego in her silver Chevy Equinox about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday when she went to work at the BFF Kidz day care center in Brandon. She found him unresponsive about five hours later, deputies said.
McKinnon said Silva-Tello took the boy to a nearby dialysis center, where first aid was administered. Fire rescue crews arrived and took the boy to a hospital, where he died.
“It’s gut-wrenching, physically debilitating. (There's) no way around it,” McKinnon said.
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There’s a sign on the day care where the woman works that warns parents and guardians to “Look before you lock. Never leave a child alone in a car.”
The temperature was in the high 80s in Tampa on Tuesday. Brandon is in suburban Tampa.
Investigators interviewed the woman and other witnesses, but no charges have been filed.