A 10-year-old boy and his father died inside a home in Inverness Sunday after the father apparently poisoned himself and his two children, Inverness police said. The boy’s 6-year-old sister was hospitalized and is in critical condition.
The father and son seem to have died of carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator inside the home, according to authorities. Police were called to their home in the 2200 block of Palatine Road at 4:23 p.m.
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Once police arrived, the children’s mother told them their father hadn’t returned them after a visitation and she had found them all unconscious inside the father’s home.
Data from the Cook County medical examiner’s office identified the boy as Austin Chang and his father as Woo Chang, 41. They were both pronounced dead at the scene at 5:08 p.m. Sunday.
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The 6-year-old girl, who hadn’t been identified as of Monday afternoon, was transported to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, where she was last listed in critical condition.
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Reached by phone, a next-door neighbor, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Tribune that she babysat both Austin and his six-year-old sister often.
“Austin was a wonderful kid, he was truly one of the best kids I knew and he was so, so sweet,” the neighbor said. “He put others first and he made me laugh all the time.”
She said she and her mom both have fond memories of Austin going to their house through the back door and asking to play as early as 7 a.m.
“I love him,” the neighbor said. “[His sister] is just as great, she is a little sweetheart and I am praying that she pulls through.”
Autopsies were scheduled for Monday, according to police.
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