Amber Alert Canceled: 1-Year-Old Boy 'Anonymously Returned' To Mother
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Authorities in the Twin Cities say a 1-year-old boy was found safe Friday night after he was taken in a stolen SUV in south Minneapolis.
The Brooklyn Park Police Department says that 1-year-old RayRay Powell was "anonymously returned" to his mother roughly two hours after an Amber Alert was issued to cell phones and local media in the metro area. The child was missing at time when outside temperatures were in the low single digits, causing concern among those searching for him.
According to a statement, Brooklyn Park police officers responded to a hang-up call around 6:30 p.m. and found the child in a home on the 6500 block of 84th Court North. The boy was with his mother, safe and unharmed.
"That's what we were looking for and praying for, that the kid was found safe and unharmed," said Muhammad Abdul-Ahad, who was searching for the child in Minneapolis as part of a violence intervention team.
Shortly before the boy was located, police in Minneapolis found the stolen vehicle in which the boy was taken. Officers found the unoccupied white Buick Enclave near the 3700 block of Lake Street East, about a mile away from where the vehicle was initially stolen.
Investigators say someone took the vehicle around 3:30 p.m. near the intersection of Bloomington Avenue and Lake Street. The boy's mother told police that she momentarily left the car running while the boy was inside.
An Amber Alert for the child was issued about two hours after the theft. The alert was canceled around 7:40 p.m., roughly an hour after the child was found.
Police are still searching for the person who stole the car.
"For the young kids out there, just stop and think," Abdul-Ahad said, referencing the rash of car thefts in the Twin Cities, some of which have involved children. "It doesn't hurt to think. Make smart decisions, not dumb ones."
Roughly a day before Powell went missing, another 3-year-old child was taken in a car theft Thursday in Minneapolis. Investigators say a 45-year-old man stole a car left running outside a Speedway gas station.
In that case, no Amber Alert was issued as the child was found unharmed minutes after the theft. The suspect is facing charges of auto theft and kidnapping.
