The whole thing was caught on surveillance camera, and the owner of the business where it happened now wants to know why the father was not charged.
Harris County Precinct 5 Constable's Office deputies were called to Tactical Firearms on South Mason Road in Katy around 12:30pm.
Workers there said a man left a five-month-old boy and 17-month-old girl unattended outside in a blue van for nearly an hour while he allegedly went inside the gun shop to look around.
"They were sweaty, red, lethargic and crying, and just kind of in and out," shop owner Jeremy Alcede said.
Alcede showed us the surveillance video, which shows the man slightly cracking the van's window before going inside and checking out a revolver and some other guns.
About 30 minutes into that shopping trip, Alcede said a customer outside heard the babies crying and screaming in the back seat of the hot van.
That customer rushed inside to get help.
"I can't let this happen," Alcede said.
Alcede said he and his workers assumed the children were abandoned. He said they asked customers about the van and no one claimed it, so they called 911.
"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.
Precinct 5 deputies and emergency workers showed up to rescue the children. We were told the door to the van was unlocked.
Workers said they had to check surveillance video to confirm who was driving the blue van.
"Seeing the faces of those children just broke my heart because I don't know how parents can do that to their children," Moe said.
Investigators spoke to the father while the children were treated in an ambulance. The mother of the children arrived a short time later. Deputies released the children to their mother and the father 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.
We've contacted CPS. As of Saturday evening, they had not received the case involving the these children.
For more information on the law regarding leaving children in cars, go to www.seeandsave.org.
Please stay with Eyewitness News and abc13.com as we continue to follow this story.
