5-year-old dies after being left inside a car in Texas scorching heat 

A 5-year-old boy died after his mother left him inside a car outside of their home in Houston for hours while she prepared for her daughter’s birthday party, police reported. 

After arriving at their home, the mother and eight-year-old daughter jumped out of the car and rushed to prepare for a birthday party, forgetting the boy strapped into his car seat. 

Two or three hours later, the mother realized that the boy was still in the car. 

The mother was "excited, trying to get things together [for the party] ... with the busyness of the activities that they were preparing for, it took a while for them to notice that the child wasn't in the house," Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez told KTRK.

The mother called 911. However, first responders pronounced the child dead at the scene.

On Monday, Houston temperatures reached a high of 101 degrees, according to CNN. It was the highest temperature seen in the city this early since 2011. 

"The door did not have any kind of child safety lock enacted or anything like that," said Gonzalez. While the boy did know how to unbuckle himself, police said he was unfamiliar with the car because it was a rental and did not know how to get out. 

It is unclear if the mother will be charged for her son's death. "Investigators will meet with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office to present their findings of the investigation," said the sheriff’s office.  

The boy is the fifth child to die inside a hot car this year. According to the National Safety Council (NSC), around 38 children under the age of 15 die every year from heatstroke after being left inside cars.