Inverness man kills self and son with carbon monoxide, daughter in critical condition

INVERNESS, Ill. - A father in northwest suburban Inverness killed himself and his 10-year-old son Sunday afternoon by carbon monoxide poisoning, authorities said. The man's 6-year-old daughter is currently in critical condition.

We were first alerted to the story as it appeared in the Daily Herald this morning, but we also reached out to Inverness Police for official statement.^[1]

The incident began around 4:20 p.m. Sunday afternoon when police responded to a call of an unknown problem on the 2200 block of Palatine Road in northwest suburban Inverness, Illinois.

According to Inverness Police Chief Bob Haas, on arrival, police discovered that a father had not returned his children to their mother on time after their weekend visit, so the mother went to the home of her estranged husband to check on them. Once there, the mother reportedly found the father, along with her son and daughter, unconscious inside the home.

The father and son were pronounced dead at the scene.

First responders took the 6-year-old daughter to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge where she remains in the intensive care unit this afternoon. According to the Arlington Cardinal, Advocate Lutheran General Hospital has the largest hyperbaric treatment center in the state for treatment of carbon monoxide poisoning.^[2]

The father was identified by the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office as well as the Inverness Police Department as 41-year-old Woo Chang. The 10-year-old boy was identified as Austin Chang.

Autopsies are scheduled for today, but it appears that they were overcome by carbon monoxide poisoning as investigators reportedly found a gas-powered generator inside the home that had been running so long it had run out of fuel.

Also according to the Daily Herald, police had never been called to the home before this incident.^[1:1]

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