A North Carolina woman is accused of leaving her three children in a hot car Tuesday while she applied for a job inside a north Charlotte office building.

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Police said the incident happened in a parking lot on Harris Parkway as temperatures soared into the upper 80s.

The children were 5 months, 2 years and 4 years old, police said.

An employee in the parking lot of the office park called 911 at about noon after spotting the children inside the car, authorities said.

"I just think it was a bad situation," witness Jackie Pennie said. "It was just irresponsible, totally, on her part."

Pennie said she saw paramedics and police respond to the parking lot.

"Saw paramedics taking the babies into the ambulance. Just that alone was upsetting," Pennie said.

Workers said a maintenance man went through the office building trying to find the 27-year-old mother, who was cited for neglect.

The children were not hurt.