VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - A child younger than 2-years-old was left in a hot car at Lynnhaven Mall over the weekend.
Police officers had to break a car window to get the child, who was alone in the back of the car moving around and crying.
The call came in shortly before 4:00 Saturday afternoon, when temperatures reached into the 80's.
A witness, Corinne Smith, tells NewsChannel 3, the child was left in the car alone with the windows up for at least an hour. She had only been on her break during work for five minutes when police caught her attention.
"Police officers just whipped into the parking lot, about four or five cars, probably 10 to 12 officers had poured out of the vehicles, barricaded the vehicles with tinted windows," said Smith.
Since police couldn't find the adult responsible, they took action and broke a window in the car to get the child out.
Once the child was safe, police located the person responsible, 28-year-old Alicia Loretta Baez.
Police have not released what relation Baez is to the child.
"When they found her she had been shopping in the mall with a friend. I heard from different sources the child had been alone for an hour at least," said Smith.
Baez was issued a summons for Contributing to the Delinquency and Child Protective Services has been notified.
"It was ridiculous that someone would actually consider leaving their child out like that and I don't believe this was an accident," said Smith.
