A heartbreaking story out of Kentucky, where a father and his 3-year-old son died of apparent carbon monoxide poisoning Wednesday morning; the man's 7-year-old daughter is in critical condition. Juvenal Garcia Mora, 39, was found unresponsive inside his garage but not in his car; the children were inside the car. "It appeared to be that he had warmed the car up while it was in the garage, and trying to get the kids out the door to school and start the day," a police rep tells Fox 19. The children's mother had already left for work at the time. Relatives, concerned when Mora didn't show up at work and his daughter didn't arrive at school, went to the house and then called police.
The police rep, who said the situation appears to be a "horrific accident," notes that it's a sad "reminder in the cold months to be cautious of running vehicles inside of closed, indoor areas, specifically garages," as that can lead to carbon monoxide poisoning. In high concentrations, the colorless, odorless, tasteless gas can be fatal in five minutes, WLKY reports. "This could happen very, very quickly, and it did, in this case," the police rep says. (Carbon monoxide was also suspected in the deaths of six teens in a garden shed.)