Phoenix infant dies in hot car

PHOENIX (AP) — An infant left for about two hours in a hot car has died — the second such death in the past two days in the city, the Phoenix Fire Department said.

Firefighters were called shortly before 3 p.m. on Saturday to investigate a report of a one-year-old boy in a car in the parking lot of the Free Church of God in Christ on the city’s south side, authorities said.

The mother found the child dead inside the car, fire Capt. Larry Subervi said in a statement.

Phoenix police Sgt. Mercedes Fortune later identified the dead child as Josiah Riggins. No arrests have been made, she said.

The incident appears to be an accident, Subervi said.

Zettica Mitchell, who told the Arizona Republic she is a cousin of the baby’s father, called the death “shocking, devastating, just sad.”

“You feel like it’s something that could happen to anybody,” she said.

On Friday, authorities said a seven-month-old boy died after being left alone in a hot car in a northeast Phoenix neighborhood in triple-digit conditions. He was identified by police as Zane Endress.

Emergency personnel were called to the scene about 4 p.m. on Friday, fire department officials said.

When officers arrived, witnesses reported the baby had been left in the vehicle for an extended period of time. The boy was pronounced dead a short time later, police said.