Authorities are investigating the deaths of 2-month old twins who were staying with their family in a city homeless shelter, police said Friday.
Emergency responders found the twins, a boy and a girl, unconscious around 3 p.m. inside the lobby of the Landing, a Queens hotel that doubles as a city-funded family shelter.
Medics rushed them to Elmhurst Hospital Center where they were pronounced dead.
The babies’ father told cops he put the children down for a nap earlier in the day, but found them lifeless when he went to check on them.
Twin infants died Friday afternoon after they fell unconscious at a Queens homeless shelter, police said.
Cops were questioning the father Friday. No charges have been filed.
“This is a heartbreaking tragedy. We offer our condolences to the family and will provide them with any and all support that we can during this difficult time,” said Isaac McGinn, a spokesman for the city Department of Social Services, which is responsible for the shelter system.
An autopsy has been scheduled to determine how the children died.
Joseph Smith, 41, who also lives in the shelter on Ditmars Blvd. near 94th St. in East Elmhurst, said he was returning to the facility as emergency medical workers were exiting with the twins.
“That was something that I never want to see again. The kids had respirators,” said Smith.
“I seen the case workers outside crying. The last thing you want to see is a case worker crying,” he added.
Other residents said the shelter was for single-parent families, suggesting the dad was caring for the twins mostly on his own.
Orland Smith, 50, exiting the building with his toddler daughter, said he didn’t know the family but the news still hit him hard.
“You can see I have my kid with me. I’m sad to hear what’s going on, I’m sad,” he said quietly.
NEW YORK NEWS DAILY