The family of 3-year-old Ke’Torrius “K.J.” Starkes Jr. is remembering the little boy as a “joyful,” “brilliant” “happy boy who loved life, who would light up any room that he would enter into.”

Ke'Terrious Starkes Jr. , 3, was pronounced dead after he was found inside a locked, hot car in Birmingham, where temperatures were in the 90s.

A 3-year-old child died after being left in a vehicle while in the care of a contractor for the Alabama Department of Human Resources, the Birmingham Police Department said in a press release. Katerrius Sparks, from Bessemer, died on July 22, police said.