Baby from Amber Alert is found OK two hours later
Infant in auto that was carjacked is left in car seat four miles from theft
A woman was unloading groceries from her SUV in East Baltimore on Wednesday afternoon when an unknown man jumped in and drove away with the car, police said.
Inside was the woman’s 11-month-old son. State police issued an Amber Alert, and the child was found more than two hours later on a sidewalk more than four miles away.
Omar Parrine, 15, was walking home from school in the Belair-Edison neighborhood of East Baltimore. He was in the 3900 block of Shannon Drive, a block from his house, when he spotted the baby’s car seat.
It didn’t register that there was an infant inside until he heard a cry. At first, he said, he thought the baby was a Halloween decoration.
“I don’t really take that way home, but something was telling me that I need to take another way,” Parrine said. “If I had never found the baby, he could have been out there for hours. I was like, ‘That’s a blessing.’ ”
The infant’s mother told police she was unloading groceries in the 400 block of Kane St. about 1:30 p.m. She had left her car running, and the man jumped in and drove off.
Maryland State Police issued an Amber Alert about 3 p.m. asking for help locating the white 2009 Suzuki XL7 SUV.
Parrine found the boy about 3:30 p.m. He said a woman came upon the baby around the same time he did, and they called police.
The baby’s face was red and he was screaming in the fall chill, Parrine said. The woman picked the baby up to comfort him while they waited for police, Parrine said. She cautioned him not to touch the car seat so as not to disturb any fingerprints.
“Tears were coming down my eyes,” Parrine said. “I was shocked that someone would leave that baby outside. I didn’t know that the baby was kidnapped, I just thought somebody left the baby outside.”
Police said the child appeared unharmed but was taken to a hospital for evaluation.
The car was located about 6 p.m. in the 2700 block of Pelham Ave., about a mile from where the baby was found, police said.
Police said a juvenile was taken into custody. No charges had been filed by Wednesday evening.
Edwina Garnett, Parrine’s aunt, said she stayed on the phone with him until police arrived.
“My nephew felt really bad,” she said. “He said it’s cold out here with the baby. Soon after that, I received the Amber Alert on my phone, and then found out that it was the baby that was missing.
“He was pretty relieved just to know that the baby was OK.”