Police: Woman Who Allegedly Took Baby From Mall Was Showing Him Off
KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. (CBS) -- Police say a baby who was taken from King of Prussia Mall Thursday evening has been reunited with his family.
Upper Merion Township Police Chief Thomas Nolan announced that a woman is in custody and 7-week-old Ahsir Simmons has been found safe.
He said the baby was located in Tredyffrin Township.
An Amber Alert was issued following the abduction of Simmons at the King of Prussia Mall.
Upper Merion Township Police Chief Thomas Nolan said that 7-week-old Ahsir Simmons was abducted by a stranger.
The woman befriended Simmons' family at the mall. She was alone, according to police.
They sat down together at the food court and authorities say the baby started crying and that is when suspect asked if she could hold the baby.
Police say the mom got distracted and the suspect took off with the child.
Word quickly spread to shoppers.
Tiffany Anstead, who was shopping in the mall, says "Right then and there my mindset was completely searching for the lady and the baby. I didn't care about anything I came to the mall for."
Investigators spent about five hours searching for the suspect and child. Through tips, they followed the pair to a number of locations.
Chief Tom Nolan says, "The woman who had taken the child had been taking him around and other people had seen her with the child."
Police say she was even showing the baby off to family.
They tracked her through Upper Merion and Malvern before both were finally located in Tredyffrin.
"This was the most dedicated response I've seen from all of the officers involved," says Chief Nolan.
Police have not yet identified the suspect and are not commenting on a motive, but they do say charges are pending.
The suspect is scheduled to make her first court appearance Friday afternoon.
King of Prussia Mall released the following statement on the abduction:
'Everyone here at the King of Prussia Mall is heartened and relieved by the safe return of baby Ahsir Simmons to his parents and family. We must thank all of the many members of law enforcement who acted with swift and expert diligence in finding the baby. Our special thanks to chief, Thomas Nolan and the police officers of Upper Merion Township, the FBI and Montgomery County Detectives, all of the police from throughout our surrounding counties of Chester, Montgomery and Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania State Troopers.
The King of Prussia Mall is a safe and family friendly environment and we maintain state-of the-art security protocols.The safety of our customers is of utmost priority and we are happy to help reunite Ahsir with his family.'
KYW Newsradio's Jim Melwert contributed to this report.