Heather Elliott told officers she saw two boys, ages 4 and 1, unattended inside a vehicle with the windows rolled up in the parking lot of the Kroger store at 1330 W. Southport Road on Monday evening. Elliott said the 4-year-old boy was crying hysterically.

"He was pushing up against the window, just screaming bloody murder, just screaming, his face all red," Elliott said.

When she approached the children's mother, Heather Query, 21, as she exited the store, Elliott said Query began yelling at her, telling her it was none of her business, and then punched her in the face.

Heather Elliott

"She just slammed me right in the face, and I was just trying to push her back, and she just kept going and going," Elliott said.

Police were called, and Query was arrested on preliminary charges of neglect of a dependent and battery.

Police said it was 88 degrees outside with a heat index of 97 degrees at the time.

"Take your children in. I don't recommend leaving them in the vehicle. It could have fatal consequences," said Indianapolis police spokesman Anthony Schneider.

"I could have not done anything and saw them on the news tonight," Elliott told 6News' Ericka Flye. "You don't think twice about it. You just do it."

As Query was arrested, Elliott said the mother had some parting words for her.

"She said, 'I hope you're happy with yourself and you can live with yourself, because I'm going to lose my job and my kids,'" Elliott said. "I said, 'Good.' I said, 'I can live with myself because I just saved your kids.'"

Query's children were released to their father.