2 Toddlers Found Inside Freezing Car With Deceased Man And Woman In Front Seat

Two children of "toddler age" were found freezing inside a vehicle with a deceased man and woman in a North Carolina parking lot, officials said. It is believed the toddlers spent the cold night in the backseat of the vehicle while the dead bodies were in the front seat.

The two adults were found with gunshot wounds by employees arriving to work Thursday morning at Barnhill Contracting Co. on Construction Drive in Rocky Mount. Cops were informed and arrived at the scene around 6:15 a.m., ABC11 WTVD reported.

The deceased individuals were identified as 24-year-old Destiny Wiggins and 28-year-old Devone Brown, Rocky Mount Police Chief Robert Hassell said.

Hassell also said the two children were of "toddler age" and were exposed to cold weather but are otherwise "doing well."

The toddlers were taken to the hospital to receive medical attention and are in the care of family members.

"Please keep the family members in your prayers," Hassell added. "Of course with any kind of situation like this, two members of our community have lost their lives."

Officials confirmed the incident is being treated as a homicide. However, details about whether it was a murder-suicide or whether the victims were shot to death by a suspect or suspects were not revealed. Cops also did not disclose the relationship of the children to either of the victims.

Evangeline Bullock, an Edgecombe County resident who arrived at the scene, called the incident "heartbreaking."

"Heartbreaking, even for an adult," she told the outlet. "But to think that these babies, I hope that they were asleep and they don't know what happened. I would hate for them to have to grow up knowing and hearing the sound of their parents being murdered, so I just hope that they were just asleep and slept through it."

A woman who identified herself as Wiggins' sister told WRAL News that the two children were Wiggins' daughters.

"It was really a shock because that's something that you know, we just don't think about in this community," Nehemiah Smith Jr., the pastor of Mount Zion church in Rocky Mount, said about the incident to the outlet.

The pastor had also arrived at the scene after hearing about the children being found with dead bodies in the car. "We don't want people to think that this the norm in Rocky Mount, because it's not."

Smith hopes justice will be served and said, "We don't tolerate this, and we just don't want to have this in our community."