A gunman left two kids locked in a car in freezing temperatures after killing their mother and another man.
Eric Coley, 42, has been arrested and charged with the murders of Devone Brown, 28, and Destiny Wiggins, 24, after their bodies were found in a car in Rocky Mount, North Carolina on Thursday morning.
The horror discovery was made by a group of workers who found the two bodies in the front and two surviving kids in the back of a vehicle in the parking lot of a construction company.
The children, who survived the ordeal, are of "toddler age" and now being cared for by loved ones, local police told WTVD.
Thankfully, the kids were unharmed but paramedics rushed them to hospital after they faced bracing conditions overnight as temperatures hovered just above freezing.
Breana Wiggins, the victim's sister, identified the loving mum-of-four.
“Destiny is one of eight kids of my mother Donna Wiggins. She has four children, two girls and two boys,” she told the outlet.
“She loved to do hair and she loved her babies and family.”
She confirmed the two children were Wiggin's daughters.
The victim's mother has set up a GoFundMe for help with funeral costs.
“I am asking for all family, friends, loved ones and anyone who can to donate to help us to bury my daughter,” the page says.
“She is a mother of 4 who was murdered today.”
Coley was remanded to Nash County Jail after being charged with two counts of first-degree murder and firearm possession by a felon.
His first court appearance was scheduled for yesterday morning.
Poice said more charges may be added as they continue to probe the shooting.
In Minnesota last week, a dad recovered a stolen vehicle with his four terrified kids inside - by driving after them in the car the suspect abandoned.
Mum Deanah Gotchie, from Burnsville in Minnesota, US, was unloading a few possessions at a friend's home around 8.30pm Thursday evening.
Her husband, Derek, left the car for a split second to close the back door of the house when a burglar immediately drove off in the car with their four young kids in the car.
Deanah told ABC : “I turn around, and I’m like, ‘What? I look out the door, and I see our tail lights leaving.”
Quick-thinking Derek notice the suspect's stolen abandoned van still running and jumped in the car as he chased the criminal.
He admitted: “I didn’t know what to do. I’m jumping in there, I’m going after my kids.”
The car chase was over in minutes after the dad tracked down the suspect.
