Two young children died in Laurel, Mississippi, after being left in a car for over two hours in extreme heat. The mother, 22-year-old Tyshekka Collier, has been charged with two counts of manslaughter and told a “serious lie” immediately after her arrest.

According to authorities, Collier left her children, a one-year-old and a two-year-old, in the car while she went inside her boyfriend’s house for over two hours. When she returned to the car, she found the children unresponsive and called 911. The temperature outside at the time was reported to be 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

Emergency responders attempted to resuscitate the children, but they were pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of death.

During questioning, Collier initially told investigators that she had gone inside the house for only 10 minutes, but surveillance footage from the area showed her entering the house more than two hours before she called 911.

“Ms. Collier told a serious lie immediately after her arrest that took us on a two-day investigation,” Laurel Police Chief Tommy Cox said in a statement. “That lie led us to believe that she was not at the location for a long period of time when in fact she was.”

Collier has been charged with two counts of manslaughter and is being held on a $250,000 bond. It is not clear whether she has obtained legal representation.

The tragic incident has sparked outrage and concern among local residents and parents. “It’s heartbreaking,” said Jessica Peterson, a mother of two who lives in the area. “As a parent, it’s your job to protect your kids, and leaving them in a hot car is just not acceptable.”

The Laurel Police Department has issued a reminder to parents and caregivers about the dangers of leaving children in hot cars. “It only takes a few minutes for a car to heat up to deadly temperatures, and a child’s body heats up three to five times faster than an adult’s,” the department said in a statement.

According to the advocacy group KidsAndCars.org, 39 children died in hot cars in the United States in 2021, and 880 children have died in hot cars since 1990. The organization recommends that parents and caregivers always check the back seat before locking their car and leaving it, and that they never leave a child unattended in a vehicle, even for a short amount of time.