Garland police

3 Children in Critical Condition After Garland Car Fire

The children's father was inside a nearby store when the fire started in a parking lot

Three young boys are in critical condition after a car they were in caught on fire Saturday while their father was inside a nearby store, Garland police say.

The blaze started just before 6 p.m. at a shopping center parking lot in the 2900 block of South First Street in Garland -- northeast of the intersection of Interstate 635 and Ferguson Road, police said.

An unknown good Samaritan rushed in and helped the boys' father take them out of the burning car.

However, that person left before authorities arrived, according to Garland police.

"I went into the GameStop to sell my PlayStation 4 to get money for my kids," the children's father Niekieya Mcgill said. "The car caught on fire so I rushed out grabbed them all out, got them out, see if they were breathing."

Paramedics arrived and began to treat the three children -- 1-year-old Jayceon, 3-year-old Josiyah and 4-year-old Jackson -- before they were taken to an area hospital in critical condition, police said. One of the children was taken by CareFlite helicopter.

Fire investigators will comb over the charred remains of the car on Monday to try and determine what sparked the fire.

Police said it appeared the car was not running at the time of the fire, but wanted to remind people of the existing dangers.

"A vehicle can catch on fire even if it's not running," Garland police Lt. Pedro Barineau said. "It's not common, but once again it can happen. So that's another thing to remember if you're leaving children or pet or anybody or anything in the vehicle. Just be careful. Take everyone out of the car. It's not worth the risk."

There are no charges at this time, according to Garland police.

But it is possible that the boys' father may face a misdemeanor for leaving children younger than 7 years old alone for more than five minutes, unaccompanied by someone at least 14 years of age or older.

NBC 5's Maria Guerrero, Noelle Walker and Chris Blake contributed to this report.

Contact Us