Father warns parents after son died from 'huffing'

GILBERT, AZ - It has been less than two weeks since he found his son dead, now a Gilbert father hopes others will learn from his son's fatal mistake.

"He was a beautiful kid," said Kirk McConnell Senior of his 15-year old son Kirk Jr.

The teenager died after huffing freon.

The practice of huffing where kids inhale dangerous chemicals to get a high is often associated with common household chemicals and aerosol sprays.

In this case, Kirk found his source for a high in an outside air conditioning unit.

"I would never have known," said McConnell. "I was blind."

Some models make it easy for kids to access the freon.

McConnell said that since his son's death he learned that other kids in the neighborhood were also huffing using an air conditioner as their source.

McConnell set up an account in his son's name at Chase Banks. He hopes to be able to continue to spread the word about the dangers of the practice by speaking at schools and at teen organizations.

He hopes no one will ever lose a child the way he lost Kirk.

"It is numbing and pitiful and it shouldn't happen," he said.