‘Boy had ligature around his neck’:

A 5-year-old boy who died along with his mother at a suburban Phoenix children’s hospital was found with a ligature around his neck, police said Monday.

Nurses at Cardon Children’s Medical Center in Mesa found the woman and her son dead inside the child’s room while conducting a 2 am bed check Saturday, Mesa police spokesman Steve Berry said.

The mother had a fatal gunshot wound, Berry said, and the deaths still are being investigated as a murder-suicide.

Police still are unclear on how the woman sneaked a gun into the hospital, which has a policy prohibiting firearms and weapons.

The child was found unresponsive with a ligature around his neck inside a privatesuite hospital room, Berry said. Detectives say that the ligature used was a piece of medical tubing commonly found in a hospital or medical setting. (AP)