Two people in Storm Lake are charged with child endangerment after neighbors called police to report smoke coming out from under their apartment door. Police say they got no answer when they knocked on the door, so they entered and found two adults standing in the living room in what’s described as heavy smoke.
The smoke was from burned food on the stove. There was no fire. The two adults, 25-year-old Tasharra Jester from Storm Lake and 27-year-old Tyrice McCray from Chicago, were taken from the apartment. That’s when rescuers learned there were still six children, from two to seven years old, still inside the smoke filled home.
Police got the youngsters out and firefighters were able to ventilate the apartment. Authorities called the Iowa Department of Human Services who took the children into protective custody. Jester and McCray face six counts of child endangerment.