During a Wednesday (May 4) news conference, Snellville Police Department officials announced that a man accused of leaving his 8-month-old daughter in his car for hours after he was taken into custody has been charged with second-degree murder.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the toddler had been left in the hot car while her father, 20-year-old Davied Japez McCorry Whatley of Grayson, went to pick up a gun that was being held in police property custody. Snellville Detective Jeff Manley said Whatley went into the building around 2:15 p.m. but it wasn’t until after 9 p.m. that the infant was taken to the emergency room by her grandmother. The child, by then, had already died.

At the news conference, the Georgia Bureau of Investigations identified the girl as Nova Grace Whatley-Trejo.

Manley says that police property custodians run a background check on anyone attempting to retrieve a gun to ensure they are not releasing a firearm to someone with a felony conviction. In Whatley’s case, a warrant for his arrest was revealed during the check due to a probation violation and he was taken into custody.

RELATED: Dad Whose Twins Died After Leaving Them In Hot Car Won’t Face Charges

Authorities say that at no point did Whatley mention his daughter being left in his vehicle, which is a claim that is being disputed by the family. According to WSB-TV, Whatley’s mother said her son did in fact inform police that his daughter was in a hot car.

“He told them,” Whatley’s mother said in an interview with the news station. “He loved his daughter.”

Whatley was eventually able to call a friend who then contacted his mother to let her know the girl was still in Whatley’s car, she told WSB-TV.

According to Manley, Whatley was nearly continuously recorded by security cameras and police body cameras during his time in the City Hall lobby to when he was placed in Gwinnett County Jail.

Whatley reportedly bonded out of jail on the probation violation charge Tuesday night but was rearrested Wednesday morning on the murder charge.

“I’m absolutely astounded that somebody would leave an 8-month-old in the car, park away from our building, and walk up here knowing that child was in the car,” Manley said.

Tuesday’s high temperature in Atlanta was 86 degrees.

Watch the news conference below.