Mom of children who froze to death while sleeping in van speaks out in moving statement for first time
Niamh Shackleton
Featured Image Credit: YouTube/ClickOnDetroitLocal4WDIV
The mother of two kids who died while sleeping in a van has broken her silence.
In recent days, police revealed that two children has sadly died after sleeping in a van in Detroit, Michigan, in below-freezing conditions.
The kids – a two-year-old girl and nine-year-old boy – were in the van with their mother, another adult, and three other children when the tragedy occurred.
The mom, named as Tateona Williams, woke up on Tuesday (February 11), to find her son and daughter not breathing.
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They were rushed to hospital, where they went on to be pronounced dead.
It's believed they died from 'exposure to hypothermia' with the cold temperatures in mind.
Now, Williams, 29, has spoken out about the moment she discovered her nine-year-old son wasn't breathing.
"I tried to give him CPR, I was just giving him CPR and kept saying, ‘Don’t leave me, don’t leave me please,'" the grieving mother recalled.
Addressing her family's living arrangements, Williams went on to tell WXYZ 7 News Detroit: "I regret having to sleep out there so bad. I tell them, ‘I’m sorry, but I tried.’
"I tried to keep hotels. I tried to pay people to stay there [in hotels]. It wasn’t working for me."
The van had been parked on the ninth floor of Hollywood Casino's parking garage at around 1am on Monday (February 10), NBC News said.
Williams also said her 'heart is breaking' following the death of her two kids, but has to fight on because she has 'two more kids to live for'.
Tamara Liberty Smith, the director of a shelter where Williams, her mom, and her kids are currently staying, has pledged to help the family in light of the mom-of-four's homeless struggles.
"I'm going to make sure that we provide all of the resources that she needs," Smith told PEOPLE.
"The plan is to get them set straight. I feel that the city owes her that. I know that Tateona feels that the city failed. Housing is a really big issue — but in the midst of failing her, I feel that we owe her."
She added: "She was doing all that she knew how as a mother to protect her children with no shelter because their vehicle was their shelter."
The tragic ordeal comes after homelessness in America reached record heights last year.
An annual survey by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development found that 'more than 770,000 people were experiencing homelessness on a single night in January 2024', reported WMYD Detroit.
This marked an 18 percent increase from the same time in 2023.
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence, contact The Compassionate Friends on (877) 969-0010.