Inset: Shaquita Evans (Bexar County Sheriff's Office). Background: The Texas home where Shaquita Evans allegedly left her three young children home alone without accessible food (KSAT/YouTube).
A Texas mom is accused of repeatedly leaving her three kids — ages 8, 2 and 1 — home alone with nothing to eat except frozen meat and canned foods.
Neighbors tell local ABC affiliate KSAT they've seen Shaquita Evans' children wandering the streets alone, looking for food on multiple occasions, sometimes in the middle of a school day.
They've allegedly been feeding and giving water to the kids after they "come up and ask," according to one resident.
Evans, 36, is charged with child abandonment after Bexar County sheriff's deputies investigated the family's living conditions and, they said, found she had left her children in a home without accessible food.
A knock on one resident's door reportedly led to the deputies' arrival. Evans' 8-year-old allegedly showed up asking for food, and the neighbor contacted authorities, according to KSAT.
An arrest affidavit obtained by the TV station says sheriff's deputies conducted a welfare check and found Evans' children home alone. The home was allegedly in disarray, and deputies called Evans. She returned home and was arrested Sunday.
"Usually, I see them running around with no adult supervision," neighbor Daniel Clough told KSAT. "Anything can happen. As you know, the children can get taken. They can get hurt on the street, and we have no way of contacting anybody."
Evans allegedly asked a woman to lie to police and provide an alibi when investigators questioned her. She claimed she allowed her children to stay home from school occasionally and questioned why it was even necessary to send them, according to the affidavit.
"[The kids] come up and … ask for the water and food," Clough said. "So, you know, we we've given … some stuff."
Evans remained in the Bexar County Adult Detention Center on Tuesday.