Mother of Children Who Died at Casino Garage Says Homeless Response Team Ignored Her

A few days ago, two children passed away at a Detroit casino’s parking lot. The kids and their family had to spend the night there in freezing temperatures due to homelessness.

Now, the mother, who has so far cooperated with the authorities, said that the family repeatedly sought help but was ignored by Detroit’s homeless response team.

The Woman Lost Two of Her Kids

The incident occurred on Monday when the woman parked her van on the ninth floor of Michigan’s Hollywood Casino at Greektown garage. The vehicle had reportedly run out of gas and could not be heated.

In the morning, the mother realized that her 9-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter had succumbed to the freezing temperatures. Despite rushing them to the hospital, the two kids were pronounced dead upon arrival. While autopsies have yet to confirm the cause of their passing, experts are almost certain that they froze to death.

The three other kids who were in the van, on the other hand, required treatment but were deemed to be in stable condition.

While this differed from the usual cases of kids who are being left unattended while their parents are gambling, it still highlighted that casino parking lots are no place for children.

The worst part is that in this case, the woman had failed to secure help from the homeless response team despite having sought help.

The Woman’s Pleas for Help “Weren’t Deemed an Emergency”

The mother told the authorities that she and her four children had to live in the fan after getting evicted. The kids’ grandmother and her child were also living in the same van. According to reports, the grandmother works at Popeyes. The mother, meanwhile, was set to commence a job this week.

She said that she had tried to seek help on several occasions prior to the incident. According to reports, she said she had contacted the homeless team two times earlier this year but the team could not provide her family with a place to go.

After that, the woman sought out help from various shelters across the city. Unfortunately, all of them turned out to be full and could not accommodate her and her family.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan elaborated that “for whatever reason, this wasn’t deemed an emergency.”