The mother of two children who tragically passed away while sleeping in a van has spoken out for the first time.
Recently, police announced that two children had passed away after spending the night in a van in Detroit, Michigan, amidst freezing temperatures.
The children, a two-year-old girl and a nine-year-old boy, were in the van with their mother, another adult, and three other children when the unfortunate event took place.
The mother, identified as Tateona Williams, awoke on Tuesday (February 11) to the heartbreaking discovery that her son and daughter were not breathing.
They were immediately taken to the hospital, where they were later pronounced dead.
The children’s death is believed to have been caused by ‘exposure to hypothermia’ given the cold conditions.
Williams, aged 29, has now shared her experience of finding her nine-year-old son in distress.
“I tried to give him CPR, I was just giving him CPR and kept saying, ‘Don’t leave me, don’t leave me please,'” she recounted in anguish.
In discussing her family’s living situation, Williams told 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.”
According to NBC News, their van was parked on the ninth floor of Hollywood Casino’s parking garage at around 1am on Monday (February 10).
Williams expressed her heartbreak over the loss of her two children but emphasized her determination to carry on for her remaining two children.
Tamara Liberty Smith, who directs the shelter currently providing refuge for Williams, her mother, and her children, has committed to supporting the family as they navigate homelessness.
“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.”
Smith 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.”
This heartbreaking incident unfolds against the backdrop of rising homelessness in the United States, which reached unprecedented levels last year.
According to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s annual survey, ‘more than 770,000 people were experiencing homelessness on a single night in January 2024’, as reported by WMYD Detroit.
This represented an 18 percent increase from the previous year, 2023.
For those who have experienced the loss of a loved one and wish to speak with someone confidentially, The Compassionate Friends can be reached at (877) 969-0010.