Philadelphia Police Searching For Suspect After 6-Year-Old Found Safe In Checkers Parking Lot
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A frantic, 11-hour search for a young girl has ended. She was in a car Tuesday night as it was stolen.
Philadelphia police found the 6-year-old safe Wednesday morning in Fern Rock. The car she was in had been stolen Tuesday night, about two miles away in Germantown.
The 6-year-old girl has been at the SVU for much of Wednesday. Officials say she was not harmed during the incident.
Police have been talking with her and trying to learn more about the man who jumped in her mom's car while she was in it last night and took off.
Police say the young girl, as well as the stolen vehicle, were found this morning by an old Checkers at Broad Street and Old York Road in Fern Rock, just across the street from 35th District police headquarters.
She was spotted around 8 a.m., just a few hours after an Amber Alert was issued around 6 a.m. But she was first reported missing around 9 p.m. Tuesday after police say her mother went into a pizzeria in the city's Germantown section.
Officers say the mother left the car running with her child in the backseat and when the mother came out of the pizza shop, her car was gone.
On Wednesday, police told Eyewitness News officers recovered some security video, including some near where the car was found. Police also admitted that it took longer than it should've to issue an Amber Alert.
Investigators are now working to identify the suspect who took with the car.
"We're gonna process the vehicle and see if we can obtain an identification through forensic evidence. But we don't have any clear direction who's responsible for it," Deputy Commissioner Benjamin Naish said.
CBS3's Matt Petrillo and Wakisha Bailey contributed to this report.
