Police are searching for a man who stole a car while a 5-year-old girl was inside. Before, police only had a photo of the man with a mask on, but Thursday morning, they released a photo showing his uncovered face.
On Wednesday afternoon, Renton Police Department said a stranger stole a running car from the parking lot of a Safeway store on 200 S 3rd St. before 1 p.m.
Renton Police spokesperson Dave Leibman said the owner of the car worked for a food delivery service and brought his daughter to work with him. He stepped out of the car to pick up an order from inside Safeway, when the suspect stole the car.
An Amber Alert was issued for the girl but was canceled after 2:30 p.m. when the car was located 6 miles away in the City of SeaTac where the child was found safe inside. She was not injured or harmed.
Police said before the child was found, a customer at a private business noticed the stolen car with a child crying inside.
The customer told an employee who then called 911.
“We brought her in. She was so brave that it almost didn’t seem real. When we called the police they showed up and right after that is when the Amber Alert hit my phone,” Steven Watson said. “Having two daughters – I can’t imagine if it’s been over an hour, what they were going through so, and the daughter was still super brave during that whole thing too, so. Happy ending.”
Police spread out using dogs to search for the suspect and scoured the area but had ultimately realized he was likely far away.
Police said they were viewing security cameras from the scene.
“We check business video and eventually discovered that the suspect got on one of the bus lines down there, so we’re checking for video on the bus lines as well,” Leibman said.
From the video the officer saw, he described the suspect as a Hispanic male in his 20s, approximately 5′8″ or 5′10″ and about 170 pounds.
The suspect was wearing a black cap and a distinctive blue hoodie.
Anyone with information on the suspect’s whereabouts is asked to call 911.
Renton police held a briefing after a 5-year-old girl was recovered from a car that was stolen from a grocery store parking lot. Watch below.
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