South California woman allegedly sees children left alone in car in Trader Joe’s parking lot and opens the door. Then their mother grabs her by the hair

Footage of a heated confrontation that broke out into a full-on brawl has gone viral online. The fight began in the parking lot of a Trader Joe’s in Southern California after one concerned shopper spotted children left alone in an unattended car. The shopper then confronted the mother, and things quickly escalated.

A video of the parking lot brawl was posted to Instagram along with a caption reading: “This is Trader Joe’s we not messing around no more.” In the clip, a woman is seen hitting the mother as a child’s scream is heard from the car. The mother then grabs the woman by her hair and is heard yelling, “You’re doing this in front of my kids; you opened my car door! Do not open someone’s car door!”

Bystanders and Trader Joe’s employees try to intervene and calm the situation down, and the mother eventually lets the other woman go, who then storms off.

Children had allegedly been left in the car

The confrontation initially began when the woman spotted children who had allegedly been left alone in a car in the Trader Joe’s parking lot, according to The New York Post. The concerned woman, who was identified in the Instagram comments as Ani Sanati, reportedly called the police and spoke with a manager at Trader Joe’s before intervening herself.

A friend of Sanati’s wrote in a comment that there was “more to this situation than a short clip or social media commentary can show.” The friend also claimed that “The police instructed her to open the vehicle if it was unlocked.” The moment Sanati allegedly opened the door is when things took a turn for the worse.

Sanati and the mother of the children ended up getting into a physical fight, which is what was shown in the Instagram video.

The video has since received millions of views and has people debating who was in the right in the situation. Some sided with the mother, writing, “This should be your reaction when someone try’s [sic] opening your car door.” Another agreed: “Oh, she opened her child’s car door! I would have panicked. What would another mother do?”

Others criticized the mother, writing, “Well she should of taken the kids with her,” and that the woman was “just trying to look out for the kids and she has the audacity.”

In any case, California’s good Samaritan law allows bystanders to enter another person’s vehicle to rescue a child aged under six if they have reason to believe the child is in immediate danger.