SAN DIEGO — An 8-year-old’s 911 call helped stop a car thief who took off for Mexico with the San Diego girl and her toddler brother inside.

Rodney Cole tells KNSD-TV that he left his children in the running car Monday afternoon so he could run into a store to buy his daughter some hair ties.

A witness saw a woman jump into the car and drive off. The witness honked his horn to notify Cole, who ran after the car but lost it.

Minutes later, his daughter Malayha called 911 from the back seat to say she and her 3-year-old brother had been kidnapped and she was seeing freeway signs that said Mexico.

The car was stopped within the hour at the San Ysidro border checkpoint. The woman is in custody.