BEXAR COUNTY, Texas – Northside Independent School District offered grief counseling on Monday to students who attended a far west Bexar County school with a boy who died this past weekend.
Sevani Stevenson, 6, was found dead in his home Saturday afternoon along with his 3-year-old sister, Miyani Islar.
In an email, Barry Perez, NISD’s assistant superintendent for communications, confirmed Stevenson was a first grader at Reed Elementary School.
However, he declined to release a statement on the deaths of the two children.
Bexar County sheriff’s deputies arrested the mother of the children, Tiona Islar, 28, on two counts of injury to a child causing death.
Sheriff Javier Salazar spoke to reporters outside the family’s home on Chancery Gate, saying that Islar told investigators her children died as a result of being in a hot car. However, he said there were some things about her story that did not add up.
“With the inconsistencies that I’m seeing in the story and then some of the evidence, we’re just not prepared to say that that’s exactly what happened,” Salazar said.
In addition to other things, Salazar said, deputies found the children inside the home, not inside the car.
Eric Hunter, who lives nearby, was with his grandchildren when they noticed the commotion.
“We saw ambulances zooming by, coming over to this area. Not sure what was going on,” Hunter said. “It’s sad. It’s disheartening. Makes you want to hold your grandkids, your kids, a lot closer.”
After learning more about the situation later on social media, Hunter said he tried his best to explain it to his grandson.
“I was, like, ‘I don’t know exactly (what happened). I think someone died in a hot car.’ And his question was, ‘Why he didn’t get out of the car?’” he said.
Most people in the neighborhood who knew the family declined to talk to KSAT 12 News. When speaking to reporters, Salazar mentioned that there had been previous reports made about them to Child Protective Services.
Yadira Gonzales, a media specialist with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, which oversees CPS, confirmed in an email that the agency had prior involvement with Islar and her children.
She said by law, though, she was prevented from releasing any other details at this time.
On Monday, a spokesman with the sheriff’s office said no new information is being released right now.
He confirmed that investigators are waiting for the result of autopsies on the children to determine what steps to take next.
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