3-Year-Old Girl Found Safe, Mother Turns Herself In To Police
SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) – Police say a 3-year-old girl is "safe and sound" after her mother allegedly shot her father on Long Island.
The domestic dispute turned into a county-wide manhunt.
Vanessa Tennant-Mitchell, 3, was the subject of an AMBER Alert Friday morning, but was located later unharmed at a relative's home after her mother allegedly shot her father and took off with the little girl.
"At about 9 o'clock this morning we received a call that the child was with a blood relative of the Tennants and the child has been located safe and sound," said Lt. Susan Ralph of the Southampton Police.
The AMBER Alert was activated after a 911 call from a home in Flanders summoned police to the scene.
"Officers found a male subject, he was shot several times. He was able to give a full description and the name of the person who shot him," Ralph said.
The little girl's father Andrew Mitchell told cops the mother of his daughter Patritchia Tennant, 42, left him to die on the floor of his seculded Pleasure Drive home and left with their child. Police airlifted the 46-year-old to a local hospital and launched the manhunt for the mother and daughter.
Luckily, relatives noticed the alert in the media.
"They actually saw the AMBER Alert, did not know the circumstances, so they saw it and contacted police," Ralph said.
Around the same time, tips from the public pointed police to a shopping center in Middle Island, and to Tennant's silver SUV.
"We saw that possibly the car was in our parking lot, where we were eating breakfast," a Good Samaritan named Sue told Jakeway. "So I went out just to see if the license plate number matched, and it did. I went up to the car, the car was empty."
She said she was "totally relieved" the child was found safe.
A few hours later, Tennant finally turned herself in to Southampton Police.
The harrowing ordeal over, neighbor John Sedar breathed a sigh of relief.
"Very pleased. That must have been traumatic for the little girl. I have grandchildren of my own and I'm worried about them getting on the school bus," he said.
His granddaughter is also 3, and her bus stop is just feet from the scene of the shooting.
Southampton Police say they have no record of any domestic violence calls from the home.
Police said they recovered the gun that was used in the shooting.