Two Children Froze to Death as Family Was Living in a Van Parked at a Detroit Casino: Police

Two children died after freezing to death alongside their family, including three other siblings, while sleeping in a van outside the Hollywood Casino Hotel in Detroit.

The family parked on the ninth floor of the casino's parking garage after their vehicle ran out of gas around 1 a.m. on Monday, police said. Around noon, WXYZ reported the children's mother noticed her 9-year-old son wasn't breathing. She contacted a friend who drove the mother and the boy to a nearby hospital.

Shortly thereafter, the children's grandmother noticed her 2-year-old granddaughter also wasn't breathing, and the same friend drove her to the hospital where both children were pronounced dead. The other three children were later evaluated at the hospital and are all in stable condition.

Although the children's official causes of death haven't been determined, police believe they froze to death. The family had reportedly been living out of a van since November, when the mother contacted Detroit's homeless response team to say they were no longer housed.

The response team, which sends an outreach worker if there's an emergency, did not send anyone to check on the family and never checked back in to see if they received assistance.

We continue to try to provide as many resources as possible. Really just to try to prevent situations like this," City of Detroit Homelessness Solutions Director Terra Linzner told WXYZ.