GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A vehicle was stolen from northeast Grand Rapids Wednesday afternoon with a six-month-old child still in the backseat.
The Grand Rapids Police Department says the car was stolen from the 800 block of Flat Street NE, near Eastern Avenue.
Officers responded around 3:20 p.m., launching a large-scale search for the baby and the car, even calling in help from the Kent County Sheriff's Office's drone team.
After 30 minutes of searching, the car was found in the 700 block of Crescent Street NE.
The baby was safe inside, still strapped in the car seat. Police say the baby seems to be unharmed.
However, investigators were not able to find the suspect after conducting an active search in the Highland Park area.
"Very spooky. I mean, it's scary enough someone like just walking down the road trying to steal a car, but someone like with the audacity just to take a child," Mike Hurley, who lives nearby, told FOX 17 Wednesday.
Hurley says the suspect tried to take his car before ultimately stealing the one with the baby strapped into the car seat.
"They asked me if they think it was okay to gather the evidence, and so I said, 'yeah, sure, why not?'" Hurley added.
GRPD says the suspect is a man in his 20's or 30's.
The department shared the following photo of the suspect, wearing a pink shirt, but officers say he took it off and was last seen wearing a white shirt.
"I just hope they find him and I hope he gets punished, and I'm glad that the people got their baby back. I mean, that's the important thing," Debbie Hoekstra, who lives nearby, told FOX 17.
GRPD has not said if Wednesday's incident is related to other recent car thefts in the area.
Hoekstra says the problem is still out there.
"We found an ignition that morning in there, by that tree in our front yard, and I'm like, 'well, somebody must have stolen a vehicle and took the ignition out or something,' you know, so and then I found out it's been happening in this neighborhood a lot more," she added.
If you have any information, call the Grand Rapids Police Department at (616) 456-3380 or Silent Observer at (616) 774-2345 or via www.silentobserver.org
