Dallas mom Ashley Lee arrested after police rescue girls, 4 and 7 from locked hot car at Walmart

HIRAM, Ga. - Police in Hiram said they found two small girls sweating inside a locked vehicle Saturday afteoon after their mom left them while to shop at Walmart.

Police said Ashley Lee, 34, of Dallas went inside the store located on Jimmy Lee Smith Parkway just after 12:30 p.m. for around 30 minutes and left her two daughters, 4- and 7-year-olds, locked in the car not running, with the windows rolled up. The girls were sweating profusely and obviously in distress, police said.

Hiram police credit witnesses for calling 911 to report two young girls in a blue Hyundai Sonata with the windows rolled up and the car tued off. 

It took an officer talking the girls into unlocking the car for police to rescue them from it, which authorities say was likely around 100 or more degrees in yesterday's 81-degree heat.

About a half hour later, police said the children’s mother, Ashley Lee, 34, of Dallas, arrived back at the car with a cart full of groceries. She was arrested and charged with two counts of 2nd degree cruelty to children.