( CNN ) -- Texas authorities have issued an arrest warrant for the owner of a day care center , claiming four children died and three were injured in a fire last week after she left them alone with the stove on , authorities said Monday . Authorities hope to detain 22-year-old Jessica Tata on a felony charge that she caused injury to a child , according to Donna Hawkins , a spokeswoman for the Harris County District Attorney 's office . Other charges could come at a later date . Tata had been licensed since March 1 , 2010 , with state authorities to run the residential day care center , Texas Department of Family and Protective Services spokeswoman Gwen Carter said . The facility was cited once -- and the issue was sufficiently addressed -- for not having a fire extinguisher or carbon monoxide detector before she got her permit , according to Carter . The arrest affidavit , dated Sunday , claims that Tata `` unlawfully and recklessly '' caused `` serious bodily injury '' to at least one of the victims Thursday , after she left that child and six others unsupervised in the home day care and drove off in her car . The blaze itself likely originated on an electric stove inside , which was on and had a pot on it containing oil , according to Houston Fire Department arson investigator Thomas Wood . A definitive cause for the fire will be announced once the investigation is complete . Neighbors John Chestnut and Geoffrey Deshano told investigators that they heard Tata screaming soon after she pulled into her driveway and went to the front door , the arrest affidavit said . No other adults or day care employees were at the facility , the men said . The two told reporters that Tata 's car was full of groceries when she returned to the house , adding that they called 911 and tried to help get the children out as smoke seeped from the building . `` I came to the side of the house in the backyard and smashed one of the windows open , and I could see a kid having his hands out , '' Deshano told reporters . `` I tried to grab him , but the smoke got into my face and my mouth and I could n't breathe or see anything , and so I had to pull back , '' Chestnut added that he crawled into the house in an attempt to rescue the children . `` I ca n't see anything , it 's hot and I 'm coughing and ca n't breathe and all I hear are kids left and right saying , 'Help me , help me ! ' `` he recalled . There were seven small children , between 15 months and 3 years of age , inside Jackie 's Child Care when firefighters came minutes later . Hawkins said Tata will be charged with at least one count of reckless injury to a child involving serious bodily injury . If convicted on that one count alone , she would face two to 10 years in prison . Emmanuel Kajoh , whose 19-month-old daughter Elizabeth died in the fire , described Tata as a `` very good lady '' who `` loves kids . '' He told HLN 's Vinnie Politan that he never had problems with the day care , calling the incident `` unfortunate . '' Still , for all his positive thoughts about Tata prior to this incident , Kajoh said he could n't defend her actions last week . `` She had options to call people , '' he said of the day care owner 's decision to leave the children unattended . `` Even it is one child , not several children , that was a really bad decision . And it cost four lives . '' CNN 's Antoinette Campbell and HLN 's Tracey Jordan contributed to this report .
NEW : A victim 's father speaks well of Tata , while calling leaving the kids `` a really bad decision '' . An investigator believes an unattended oil-filled pot on an electric stove started the fire . Witnesses say Tata had come back to the home after grocery shopping and noticed the smoke .