A mother left her baby unattended in an SUV as she went inside a Maryland gas station Tuesday afternoon, and the vehicle was stolen seconds later with the baby inside.
The child was found abandoned but safe about a half-mile away in D.C., but the hunt for two suspects and the stolen vehicle is ongoing, police said.
Police are searching for a dark gray 2013 Chevrolet Traverse with the Maryland license plate 4CM8301. It has a "baby on board" sign.
The SUV was taken from the Valero station in the 5600 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Highway, on the D.C.-Maryland border. Police were called at about 2:45 p.m.
The child's mother got out to go into the gas station's store, leaving the little girl in the SUV with the engine running.
While she did, two strangers jumped into the unattended vehicle and drove off, Seat Pleasant Police Chief Devan Martin said in an update.
A gas station worker said he saw it happen.
"The guy, he just jumped into the car and run the car," he said. He asked News4 not to reveal his identity.
The mother was horrified, the worker said.
"She cried a lot. She was like, mad. She was not able to talk," he said.
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Seat Pleasant police were about to put out an Amber Alert, and notified Prince George's County police and D.C. police of the search.
But then they got a call about a baby found in a car seat. Two women who work at a funeral home about a half-mile northwest, at 57th and Eads streets in Northeast D.C., saw the baby.
Brianna Dunne and Grace Murray said they went to the window because they heard loud music. They said they saw the SUV stop, someone take out the car seat and drive off. They raced downstairs to help.
"We jumped over everything," Murray said. "Flew down the steps. I probably missed five or six steps."
"She did. I thought she was Superwoman," Dunne said.
They called police, and officers rushed to the child to reunite her with her mother.
She and the child were evaluated by medics.
Anyone who sees the SUV is asked to call police.
Stay with News4 for more details on this developing story.
