After about an hourlong search, Philadelphia police located a toddler who was sleeping inside a car while it was stolen out of Germantown Thursday evening.
Officers found the 2-year-old boy walking near 17th and Courtland Streets after receiving a report of a child that fit the description of the missing toddler, according to Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small.
The accused car thief let the child out of the car about half a mile away from the APLUS gas station the car was taken from and drove away with the vehicle, which remains to be found, police said.
The subject is described as being in their late teens to early 20's and wearing all black with a black mask and thin build.
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"What was unique is that the child was non-verbal and sleeping, so the person who stole the car did not hear the child," Small said. "This is a happy ending."
The Chrysler 300, which was left unlocked and running, was stolen from the APLUS gas station at Bellfield and Ogontz Avenues, investigators said.
Just before 6 p.m., the boy's mother went inside the APLUS gas station, only to find her vehicle fleeing southbound on 18th street towards Rockland Street, police said.
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Police transported the toddler back to the gas station to be reunited with his mother, police added.
SkyForce10 was overhead as the child was reunited with family.
Small thanked vigilant residents who responded to a citywide alert and called 911 whenever they saw a child that fit the toddler's description. Citizen app users also helped to provide information to police, Small said.
"Police realized right away that this was not a domestic or some sort of known person that took the child," Small said. "Someone just saw the opportunity with the car running. The person that took the car probably didn't know that the child was inside."