CARROLLTON, Ga. — Police now say they believe alcohol played a factor in a father leaving his twin daughters to die in a hot vehicle Thursday.
Asa North, 24, faces two counts of involuntary manslaughter and reckless conduct.
Carrollton police told Channel 2 Action News his 15-month-old twin daughters Ariel & Alaynah were found unresponsive after being left in a hot car on Tillman Drive. Officers said they got the call at about 6:30 p.m., and arrived at the complex to find neighbors trying to cool the girls down.
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They were in a wading pool and using ice packs to try to lower the girls' body temperatures, but police said it was too late.
The twins were taken to Tanner Medical Center in Carrollton where they were both pronounced dead.
"Only he knows the answer about what happened today, but I hope and pray it was an accident," family friend, Regina Cleveland, said. "There's no reason for it, and I'm hoping that maybe he didn't mean to do it because this is something he's going to have to live with for the rest of his life."
The victim's mother was at Grady Hospital in Atlanta all day after being involved in a car accident.
“The little girls, oh (I) love them. They’re my sweethearts. I mean, I see them and play with them all the time,” Donnie Holland said.
North is scheduled to make his first court this afternoon