Child discovered dead in car

BURLINGTON — Burlington police made a tragic discovery Wednesday when officers responded to a call and found a child dead in a car in the parking area of Crossroads Centre, near Kerns Road and North Service Road.

It appears that the child had been in the car in the heat for some time, possibly several hours, say police. The male child’s age is being estimated at three years.

“The coroner is on the scene, and the status now is it’s a coroner’s case,” said Acting Staff Sgt. Kevin Baird Wednesday. “Until we’re updated there’s not much more I can say. The call came in as an unknown (caller) at 5:30 p.m. (The parking plaza) is so big it took a few minutes to find the car. When we did, we located the child in the car.” It was a Ford Escape.

“Immediately officers started to attempt to resuscitate.” But the child died at the scene.

“We are interviewing people now,” said Baird. He would neither confirm nor deny that a parent or parents were among those being interviewed. But no one was being held in custody at that time.

The investigation was in its very early stages Wednesday evening, but there appears no immediate reason for suspicion of foul play, police said.

Crossroads Centre is the home of Crossroads Christian Communications, which puts on such programming as “100 Huntley Street.”