A mother who left her 5-month-old girl in her car got a horrible scare when she returned to find her baby and car had disappeared in Escondido.
The woman left her car running with her child inside as she ran into her apartment in the 1000 block of Rock Springs Road to grab something she forgot, Escondido police said.
While she was inside, a man jumped into her 2014 Toyota Camry and drove off in the car at about 3 p.m.
"He was far from the car but ran as fast as he could before the mother came," said Omar Garcia, who was playing soccer nearby.
Omar and his friends witnessed the whole thing and immediately told the shocked woman what happened when she returned.
"We told her mom, and her mom started crying and called police," said Allen Ponce.
About 50 minutes later, a citizen reported seeing the stolen car. Officers found it abandoned in the 1500 block of East Grand Avenue in Escondido. The baby was inside and unharmed.
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"She's like my child, so I felt very concerned about her safety," the girl's aunt told NBC 7. "We're happy she is safe and healthy and good."
Police are still looking for the suspect and are investigating if there was a second person in the car. A similar incident happened late Wednesday night, when a man stole a Nissan from a National City hotel with an 18-month-old baby sleeping in the backseat.
The neighborhood parents are impressed with the way their children handled the situation and acted as witnesses for the police.
"We are proud of him. We tried to teach him to whenever he sees something bad, call police," said Roger Pounce, Allen's father.
The suspect is described as a man in his 30s with a medium height and build. He was wearing a white T-shirt and dark-colored pants and had an unknown tattoo under his right shirt sleeve.
