2-Month-Old Among 6 Children Found Locked Inside Milwaukee Storage Unit as 2 Are Arrested

Six children, including a two-month-old baby, were reportedly found locked inside a Milwaukee storage unit.

On Tuesday, Sept. 16, the children were discovered inside the container at around 1:36 a.m., according to ABC News.

Authorities received an alert about children being trapped before arriving at the StorSafe storage facility near 27th and Silver Spring, ABC News and Fox 6 reported.

The Milwaukee Police Department told ABC News that the oldest child was 9 years old, while the others were 7, 5, 3, 2, and 2 months old.

Officials initially believed there were only two children inside the storage unit, according to dispatch audio obtained by ABC News.

The locker was opened after fire crews were called for help, and no one was reportedly harmed.

PEOPLE has reached out to the Milwaukee Police Department, the Milwaukee County District Attorney, the Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services, and StorFace Storage for comment but did not immediately hear back.

Authorities have arrested two people: a 26-year-old woman and a 33-year-old man.

A spokesperson from the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office told the local newspaper, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, that they will review charges as the investigation continues.

A woman in the area told TMJ4 that she had often seen a family with children leaving the storage in the morning and returning at night.

However, another witness, Mac, who also uses the storage facilities, said they had “never seen kids walking around here, no. Not at all.”

Other residents in the neighborhood expressed shock at the incident.

“I’m confused. I don’t even know how to respond to it,” a man told ABC News affiliate WISN. “To me, this sounds like a cry for help, maybe they just needed help and didn’t know how to get it.”

Local resident Tonya Lowe told WITI that she had noticed children at the site in recent days and said the discovery shook her.

“It touched my heart. I had to come out. I could not believe it,” Lowe said. “We have failed these kids. We don’t need to be cruel and treat our kids like animals and lock them in places they don’t deserve to be put in.”