Garland car fire sends 3 young kids to the hospital

GARLAND, Texas - Garland fire and police are still investigating how a car caught fire Saturday evening with three young boys alone inside.

The children’s father, Niekieya McGill, left them in the car while he was in a GameStop store. A witness pulled the 1, 3 and 4-year-olds out of the vehicle after seeing it filled with smoke.

“This is very unfortunate that this happened. And it’s something we are not taking very lightly. We’re going to investigate every piece of this incident,” said Lt. Pedro Barineau with the Garland Police Department.

All three children were at Parkland Hospital’s burn center as of Monday evening and were reportedly in critical condition.

Investigators have not said exactly how long McGill was in the store when he realized the car was on fire. Once he noticed it was on fire, police say he ran outside and pulled all three children out with the help of a bystander. Police and fire investigators say they are being very thorough and don’t want to jump to conclusions.

“We don’t know if this vehicle catching on fire was accidental, if the vehicle caught on fire by itself, or if the child inside the vehicle did something to actually ignited the fire,” Barineau said.

Police have not filed any charges against the father, but have not ruled them out. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but police say the vehicle was not running and the fire is believed to have started in the front passenger side of the car near the dash.