Egg Harbor Township police rescue 3 kids locked in car outside Walmart, 2 women charged

EGG HARBOR TWP., New Jersey (WPVI) -- Concerned customers at a South Jersey Walmart alerted police when they noticed three young children crying inside a locked car on a hot afternoon.

"That's terrible. I mean, nobody should leave their kids in the car," Dorothy Grieco, from Galloway, New Jersey, said.

"Oh my God, that is horrible," Eric Mangual, from Pleasantville, New Jersey, said.

Officers with the Egg Harbor Township Police Department arrived at the store's parking lot Wednesday just before 3 p.m. in the Oak Tree Plaza on the 6800 block of the Black Horse Pike.

One of the responding officers was Tom Rizzotte.

"It seemed like they were all screaming. I noticed one was banging on the window and screaming," Rizzotte said.

Officers located the three children, ages 5 months, 1-year-old and 3-years-old, inside the vehicle that was not running and had all its windows up, police said.

The temperature outside at the time was 86 degrees, according to authorities.

"I saw one in particular sweating profusely from the chest and from their head. I could see drips of sweat dropping off of their body," Rizzotte said.

Officer Rizzotte said he used a lock-out kit to unlock the doors of the car and rescue the children.

The three children were turned over to Egg Harbor Township EMS for treatment.

They were then taken to Atlantic City Medical Center by ambulance.

Police said they are all expected to be OK.

"The Egg Harbor Township Police Department would like to thank the citizens who contacted police and stood by to be sure the children were safe," police said in a statement.

Officers arrested a woman identified as 24-year-old Cyndie Jourdain, a mother of two of the children, and a 17-year-old female, a caretaker of two of the children, at the scene. They're both of Galloway Township.

Authorities said, based on their investigation and security camera footage, the two had been inside the Walmart for approximately 45 minutes at the time the children were located and rescued from the vehicle.

Jourdain and the teenager were charged with Endangering the Welfare of a Child.

They were released pending court.

The Division of Child Protection and Permanency was contacted and responded to the hospital, police said.