Seven month-old baby boy dies after mom leaves him in roasting car for TWO HOURS to shop at Arizona mall as temperatures rose close to 100F

 A baby boy has died after being left inside a hot car which was parked outside an Arizona shopping mall on Saturday.

The child who was just seven-months old was found to have been inside the car for almost two hours by the time police and paramedics were called to the vehicle outside JCPenney at Superstition Springs Center in Mesa.

Temperatures in the shade would have been close to 100F at the time with heat inside the vehicle rapidly escalating the moment the car's engine and air conditioning were switched off.  

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Mesa Police Department is investigating after a baby was left inside a hot car. Pictured, police officers were on the scene investigating the circumstances behind the boy's death

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A seven-month old boy stopped breathing after being left inside car for two hours. Pictured, police officers are seen outside the shopping mall

The baby was not breathing at the time the emergency services were called.

Fire crews attempted to resuscitate the child and took the baby to a local hospital  where he later died. 

Officers say that it was the boy's own mother who found her son still sitting in his car seat having spent two hours in the mall. 

An investigation has been launched but no charges have yet been filed against the baby's mom.

She has not been identified and has not explained how she came to leave the infant in the car.

It is the first reported hot car death of a child in Arizona this year according to Fox10.

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Temperatures outside the vehicle were close to 100F in the shade at the time. Pictured, the medical examiner's vehicle is seen outside the shopping mall

In April, a four-month old girl ended up in the hospital after her mother left her stuck inside a hot car for several hours.

The youngster survived and although Cristina Valente, 35, was charged with negligence and child abuse, the charges were later dropped.  

Last year, far fewer children than normal died after being left inside hot cars due to the coronavirus pandemic which saw many people stay at home. Only one child, three-year-old Delilah Jones died in Arizona.

In 2019, four children died after being left unwittingly inside hot cars.  

Dr. Rosina McAlpine told Fox News, that parents sometimes forget their children, leaving them inside hot vehicles, because they're in a rush to get to work, make an an appointment, or have some other obligation.

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The boy's mother was the one to call the emergency services. An investigation by Mesa Police has been opened but no charges against mother have been filed

They 'forget they haven't dropped the child off at day care or school and rush off to the meeting or work distracted, leaving their child behind.'

'Later they remember in shock but often it is too late,' McAlpine says, noting some parents alternate dropping their child off at day care, and might 'forget it was their turn.' 

Some caregivers 'knowingly' leave children inside cars, as the kids 'are sleeping and don't want to disturb them in the hope they'll get back before they awake.' 

Those who leave their children in the car also may not understand the danger they're in, or consider how fast cars can heat up. 

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The seven-month old boy was found unresponsive in a parking lot at Mesa Mall, pictured

The interior temperature of a car can quickly soar with 80 percent of the total temperature rise happening in the first 30 minutes a child is inside a car.

Temperatures inside the car can often exceed those outside by up to 50 degrees.  

The Centers for Disease Control say that it is never safe to leave children unattended in a car in any weather, even with the window cracked open.

To remember that a child is in the car, they recommend keeping a stuffed animal in the child's car seat on days when they're not, and moving the stuffed animal to the front passenger seat when the child is there as a reminder. 

Other suggestions include placing purses or bags in the backseat by the child, or even one shoe so parents are assured to check before leaving the car.