HOUSTON – Shoplifting at a store like Walmart isn't unusual, but the details surrounding two cases at a Houston location on Tuesday still have people shaking their heads.
"I just think that it was wrong and it should never happen again," says shopper Wayne Miller.
Mary Helen Brown, 20, and Bianca Nicole Murrell, 21, are both charged with shoplifting and abandoning their children. Investigators say the pair walked into a Walmart on South Post Oak Boulevard near the 610 Loop -- each with a 5-year-old child. They are accused of taking food off the shelves, feeding it to their kids, then stuffing the empty wrappers back on the shelves.
But store security workers say they didn't stop there. The two reportedly picked up other items, scanned them at the cash register, and then allegedly stuffed them in their purses after canceling the sales. When Walmart security approached the women, they say the ladies ran from the store and left their 5-year-olds behind.
"They were probably terrified," says shopper Carol Hamilton. "People chasing their mommy. And wondering, 'Why did my mommy leave me?'"
"First of all they're wondering, 'Where's my mother?'" says Wayne Miller. "And, 'Who's gonna help us or who's going to save us?'"
Brown and Murrell returned a short time later, and police arrested them for shoplifting and abandoning their children.
"I don't know if they'll ever understand what they did to their children in that act," says Hamilton.
Brown also was charged with giving a false identity to police because she had outstanding warrants.
Brown and Murrell are expected to appear in court Thursday.?