A San Antonio mother was arrested after leaving her three children in a hot car while shopping, police said.

CNN
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A mother who police say left her three children in a hot car for nearly an hour while shopping in San Antonio, Texas, was arrested after a Good Samaritan helped rescue the children from the car.

Officers were dispatched to the scene after receiving a call from a passerby alerting them that there were children in a turned off vehicle, San Antonio police said in their preliminary report. First responders discovered a 1-month-old, a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old child in the car.

“The mother of the children (suspects) was at the scene and stated she went into a store and did not realize how long she was gone,” the department said. “Based on information gathered, the children were in the car for approximately 50 minutes.”

Angela Garza–Amador was arrested on June 28 and charged with three counts of child neglect/endangerment, the report said. She was released on bail on June 29, according to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office.

It is unclear whether Garza-Amador is represented by a lawyer.

A woman who rescued the children and recorded the moment on video told CNN affiliate KENS that she was on her way to a children’s clothing store when she noticed a little boy in the car next to her.

She said she followed her “motherly instinct” and decided to look inside. She found another child in the car and alerted store employees to call 911. She then tried to open the car door, but it was unlocked. While she waited for emergency responders to arrive, she helped the children.

“The boy was sweating really profusely and, you know, he was crying. It seemed to me like he was gasping for air, like they were about to give up,” the woman, who asked not to be identified, told KENS. “A lot of parents think, ‘Oh, it’s OK, I’ll be right back,’ but so much can happen in that time.”

In the video, at least three women can be seen helping to remove the three children from the car, including a baby from his car seat, while the three-year-old boy cries and struggles to breathe.

“I live across town and haven’t been to the store I wanted to go to in 10 years,” she added. “I feel like God literally sent me there for these kids.”

The temperature in the San Antonio area at the time was between 98 and 100 degrees. A National Weather Service chart comparing outside and inside car temperatures showed that after an hour in a car with an outside temperature of 93 degrees, the temperature inside the vehicle could reach as high as 130 degrees.

The children were taken to a hospital for treatment and, according to a preliminary police report, were expected to be released from the hospital the same day.

The incident was reported to the youth welfare office, police said.

“While the details of the investigation are confidential by law, I can confirm that at the time of the incident report there was no open case involving this family,” a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services told CNN. “The children were not placed in the custody of CPS, but were placed in the care of the family.”

According to Kids and Car Safety, an organization that researches and documents data on car deaths, there were at least seven deaths of children in overheated cars in 2024. Since 1990, at least 1,090 children have died in overheated cars nationwide.