Detroit: City Offers Aid After Child Freezing Tragedy at Casino

Earlier this month, we reported that an accident claimed the lives of children at the parking garage of a casino in Detroit, Michigan. That’s the case for a young boy and an infant girl who froze to death while sleeping in a van at the Hollywood Casino Hotel at Greektown parking garage.

Now, a new report confirms that a local funeral home will assist the family of the two deceased children by arranging the funeral services. At the same time, the city will be helping the family find suitable housing.

New McFall Brothers Funeral Home Will Organize the Funeral Services

Law enforcement confirmed that the kids, a 9-year-old boy, and a 2-year-old girl, froze to death after spending the night in a car parked in the casino’s parking garage. The family was reportedly homeless and the mother with five children, along with the grandmother, were using a van as shelter.

The family parked their car in the Hollywood Casino Hotel’s garage on the ninth floor to spend the night on Monday last week. While the car was initially running, at some point it ran out of gas. Then, the temperature in the van dropped significantly and around noon on Monday, the mother realized that her 9-year-old son wasn’t breathing.

The boy was transported to a hospital. After that, the grandmother noticed that the 2-year-old girl wasn’t breathing either. While the infant girl was also taken to hospital, both children had already passed away.

In light of the heartbreaking accident, the New McFall Brothers Funeral Home agreed to help the family by organizing the funeral services for the two kids for free, the Detroit Free Press reports. “As the community mourns this heartbreaking loss, the overwhelming outpouring of love and support deeply touches the family,” the Funeral Home wrote in a statement. In addition, they pointed out: “At this time, they kindly request privacy as they navigate this unimaginable grief,” according to a press release from the funeral home.”

Detroit Will Assist with Housing for the Family of the Deceased Children

After the tragic accident, the mother of the two children who passed away said that while she sought help from Detroit’s homeless response team, they ignored her. While the woman made several attempts to reach the homeless response team late last year, her request was seen as not an emergency. Trying to reach other shelters also didn’t help the woman.

Sadly, only after the tragedy, the city will now help settle the family in a new home. Deputy Mayor Melia Howard explained last week: “We are hopeful that we will have them settled into a safe and comfortable home by this weekend.” According to Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, the city will look into why the woman wasn’t accommodated when she contacted the homeless response team. Ultimately, the Mayor said that Detroit anticipates preventing any such accidents from happening in the future.