Woman, children found dead at school parking lot in Maryland

USPA News - A woman and her two young children were found dead inside a car parked at a middle school in western Maryland on Monday afternoon, but the causes of deaths were unknown as there were no apparent signs of violence, city officials said. Officers responded to the parking lot of Western Heights Middle School in Hagerstown, about 62 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of Washington, D.C., at about 4:40 p.m. local time after a 911 call of unresponsive people inside a car.

The incident happened on the first day of summer break, though employees were at the school for an administrative work day. "Officers arrived and were directed by school personnel to a small silver vehicle parked on the lot," said city spokeswoman Erin Wolfe. "The officers opened the vehicle and discovered an adult female in the front seat and two very small children in the back seat. No signs of life were found on any of the three persons." Wolfe said an ambulance was called but all three occupants of the vehicle were pronounced deceased at the scene. Hagerstown Police Chief Mark Holtzman said the woman had been identified and the children, who appeared to be under the age of 5, were believed to be hers. No names were released pending notification of next of kin. Holtzman said the victims were from the Tri-State Area that includes Hagerstown but also greater western Maryland and parts of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. It remained unclear on Tuesday whether the woman and her children were the victims of a crime, accident or suicide as there were no signs of violence. The bodies of the victims were moved to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore, where autopsies will take place in an effort to establish the causes of deaths.