Shoppers Rescue Toddlers Trapped in Hot Car

— -- Shoppers who noticed two young children trapped inside a hot car in Houston smashed open the vehicle's windows to rescue them, witnesses said.

Gabriel Del Valle, who was working in a store at the strip mall where the incident occurred, said someone came rushing into his store Monday, saying there were children stuck in a parked car.

When Del Valle emerged from the store, he saw a group of people banging on the windows and doors of a Jeep, trying to smash them or pry the door open, he told ABC News today.

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"Pretty much I’m just working like a normal day and a guy comes in rushing and he’s like ‘somebody left their kids in their car,'" Del Valle said.

"The guys had to break the window, they had to bring a big sledge hammer and break the window and then a lady had to climb in to open the door," he added.

The mother of the children had accidentally locked the kids inside the vehicle and had been seeking help to get them out.

Inside the car were two children, ages 3 and 5, Del Valle said.

"Texas is famous for being hot so just imagine after rain, it’s real humid over here. I don't know if it was 100 (degrees) but it was close to that. It's good to see that people wanted to help," he said.

No one called police, though Del Valle said they did discuss it.

"After she left people wanted to call the cops, but we said, no, she made a mistake, you've got to learn from your mistakes. You don’t know the situation she’s under, you know, she could be a single mom or something," he said.

Del Valle said he filmed the scene because it seemed so relevant to other current news stories about children being left in hot cars, including the Georgia father who was arrested earlier this month after his son was found dead in the car.