Detroit — Two children froze to death Monday morning while spending the night in a van that was parked at a Detroit casino garage, police said.
Three other children in the van, ages 11, 9 and 4, were evaluated at a hospital and appeared to be OK, police said.
The family arrived at the parking garage of Detroits Hollywood Casino at Greektown around 1 a.m. Monday, said Detroit police Capt. Nathan Duda. They had been living in a van, which the mother had navigated to the ninth floor of the Hollywood Casino parking structure and parked.
At some point, the vehicle ran out of gas.
The childrens mother called a family member around noon when she noticed one child was not breathing, Duda said. When that family member arrived, she noticed a second child had stopped breathing.
The family member transported both children, ages 9 and 2, to Childrens Hospital, where they were pronounced dead. Child Protective Services is handling the other children.
Duda said it appears the children froze to death, but autopsy results are pending. The temperature around midnight was 17 degrees, according to National Weather Service data.
The city maintains a list of warming centers on its website.
Police are treating the case as a criminal investigation and said they were looking into whether someone from the van went into the hotel or casino at any time between 1 a.m. and noon Monday.
The mother was detained and provided a statement to police but had not been charged as of Monday, Duda said.
“I dont think anyone really wants to think about that at the moment with two children passed, but the reality is that the circumstances do have to be examined,” Duda said.
He said the family has a current address at an apartment complex on the citys east side, “but the mother and the other family member that ended up conveying the children, they said that they were unsheltered, they didnt have a residence to go to.”
Police did not immediately release other details about the incident.
Jason Brown, a spokesperson for Hollywood Casino at Greektown, referred questions to Detroit police.
Rev. Faith Fowler, the executive director of the Cass Community Social Services that helps the homeless children and their families in Detroit, called on the community to step up and said families like the one in the van Monday need to feel empowered to seek help.
“The deaths of two little ones should remind us again that the best reaction to unhoused people is not a coat or hat or gloves or a car, but to encourage them to come inside,” she said in an emailed statement to The Detroit News. “Michigan winters dont discriminate. Frostbite, hypothermia and even death can be the consequence of staying outside.
“The other thing I know is that we must make it as easy as possible to ask for help, and to communicate as often as possible where that assistance is available. Too much is at stake.”
The childrens deaths come just weeks after Detroits biennial census of unsheltered people conducted overnight Jan. 29. Dozens of volunteers fanned out across the city to count the citys homeless population.
Every two years, the city reports its unsheltered count to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The city also conducts its own point-in-time snapshot each year that counts people staying on the streets, in shelters and other housing programs. Last years count reported 1,725 people.
Terra Linzner, Homelessness Solutions director for the citys Housing and Revitalization Department, said in a statement that anyone can request outreach services for someone who is sleeping outside via the Homeless Outreach Request page on the citys website.
“The events today are heartbreaking,” Linzner said.
