Fort Lauderdale, FL – One man is dead and five others, including his wife and daughter, are being treated for suspected exposure to carbon monoxide after a car was found running inside the garage of a townhome, officials said.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office identified the deceased man as Louis Agro, 43. His wife, Regina Agro, 37, was undergoing specialized treatment at Mercy Hospital in Miami and their daughter Sophia, 11, was hospitalized in critical condition, officials said.
The names of three other men who were also hospitalized in critical condition were not immediately available.
Agro and the others were found Monday morning after a car was left running in the garage of a Belle Isle town home in the 2200 block of Northeast Ninth Avenue, said Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Deputy Chief Tim Heiser.
“There was a car that was left on in the carport, the garage,” he said.
Two neighbors who were going out to exercise about 5:30 a.m. noticed the garage door was open but thought nothing of it at first, said Sheriff’s spokeswoman Gina Carter.
They returned just before 8 a.m. and realized something was wrong.
“They went in and found the body of their neighbor on the floor [and] they began to do CPR,” she said. “They noticed the car was on and running. They turned off the car and called 911.”
Fire Rescue got the call at 7:55 a.m. and arrived moments later, Heiser said.
“A firefighter noticed that there were also two deceased dogs in the living room and that’s when they realized it was a hazardous materials scene,” he said. “They put on their protective equipment, they entered the house and they did find a couple more victims within the house.”
Ultimately, the two dogs and a cat were found dead, officials said.
A neighbor, who only identified himself as Tom, said the victims were a family that had just returned from a trip.
The husband, wife and a pre-teen daughter had lived in the town home for about eight years, he said.
One of the two neighbors who had tried to rescue the family was overcome by fumes and was also taken to Broward Health Medical Center with the woman and child.
“Crews went to the neighboring apartments and started searching for more victims in case the carbon monoxide was moving throughout the homes,” Heiser said. “They did find several more victims that they managed to bring out and treat outside on the street.”
The building was evacuated as a precaution and Sheriff’s detectives began investigating the death in conjunction with Wilton Manors.