'She is alive': 3-year-old was found in alley near Union Station after a thief steals the car she was riding in
CHICAGO (CBS) -- An innocent 3-year-old is the latest victim of crime in Chicago.
As CBS 2's Jackie Kostek reported Thursday, car thieves dropped the girl off near Union Station after stealing her mother's sport-utility vehicle. It's unclear how long the child was left alone in an alley near Union Station, but it was less than an hour.
The girl's great grandmother said the whole family is traumatized by what happened but grateful their little girl is alive. It was around 8:30 Wednesday night when Glecia Hood got a panicked call from her granddaughter.
"Screaming and hollering, they took my baby. They took my baby."
Hood's 26-year-old granddaughter had gotten out of her SUV briefly near Roosevelt and Clinton when Chicago police said someone jumped into the driver's seat and took off her three-year-old daughter inside. Flooded with fear, the family was frantic.
"Where were they at. I just lost it. I had to pull myself together."
Hood said within the hour, she was heading to Lurie Children's Hospital to reunite with her 3-year-old great-granddaughter. Just moments before, CBS 2 captured the moment a Chicago police officer carried the girl crying as she was carried out of Union Station, near where she'd been found alone in an alley.
"The thought of my three-year-old grandbaby in the alley is just like devastating but you know, she was unharmed. Unharmed."
Hood said that is the blessing in an otherwise terrible situation, that her sweet, bubbly, playful great granddaughter, the light of the family is physically okay.
"The best little granddaughter anyone could ask for. We love her dearly."
While the family understands the girl will need help making sense of what happened to her, they're glad they have that chance, understanding that not all victims of Chicago crime do.
"You see it. You hear it on the news every day and then it happens to you. It happens to you," she said. "We are just grateful that she is okay and she is alive. She is alive."
The vehicle that was stolen was later found unoccupied near 44th and South Shields. Police are still looking for the person responsible.
