Police: 6-Year-Old Girl Strangled Baby Brother As Dad Shopped

A Houston man has been charged with child abandonment after his 6-year-old daughter strangled her 1-year-old brother with a seat belt when he left them alone in a car.

Adrian Dreshuan Middleton was charged Friday in the May 20 killing in Houston. A criminal complaint says the 26-year-old father told investigators he parked outside a thrift store, left the air conditioner on, gave the children water and snacks, and played a movie while he went shopping for clothes.

Surveillance video shows Middleton in the store for almost 1½ hours. When he returned, his daughter was crying in the back seat. She told investigators she was playing with her brother but got angry when he wouldn’t stop crying, so she wrapped the seatbelt around him. She thought he had fallen asleep.