Two crying babies were reportedly left alone in a hot vehicle in a small Texas town for nearly an hour on Saturday while their father shopped in a gun store, but the man has not been charged.
Workers tell a local news station that a man left a 5-month-old boy and 17-month-old girl unattended in a blue van while he allegedly went inside Tactical Firearms in Katy, Texas to look around.
About 30 minutes later, a customer came inside the store trying to get help for the children, shop owner Jeremy Alcede tells KTRK. Alcede said he and workers asked customers about the van and no one claimed it, including the children’s father.
That's when 9-1-1 was called.
“Seeing the sweat all over their face, and just wearing diapers, and just know they were left in a hot car really disappointed me,” Alcede’s employee, Moe, said. … “Seeing the faces of those children just broke my heart because I don’t know how parents can do that to their children.”
Officers and rescue crews pulled the children out of the vehicle, but it took a surveillance camera to identify the van’s driver the station said.
Investigators reportedly talked to the father while the children were treated in an ambulance. The babies’ mother arrived later, and the children were released to her. The dad was allowed to leave.
Deputies said the District Attorney’s office is waiting to hear from Child Protective Services before they will accept charges on the father.
The case has reportedly been turned over to CPS.
A puzzled Alcede told the news station that he would like to know why the father hasn’t been charged yet.
“I don’t understand. This just does not make sense that he blatantly broke the law, endangered the lives of his kids. And he is free on the streets.”
The children and their parents have not been identified. No further information on the case is currently available.
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TXT 24
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