A baby boy who was inside a minivan when it was stolen from a Toronto plaza may have helped alert the authorities to the van’s whereabouts.
The van was stolen Sunday evening from a plaza in the city’s North York district. A witness said the two-month-old boy had been left in the vehicle while his mother went into a laundromat in the plaza.
“She was in tears – like hit-the-floor tears,” Shani McCalla told CTV Toronto.
The van was later found in a residential area about four kilometres away, having been abandoned. Shannon Douglas was home when police officers knocked on her door and asked to search her property.
“They mentioned that there was a stolen vehicle, it was that van outside our house, and there was a baby inside the vehicle,” Douglas told CTV Toronto.
According to Douglas, police were notified about the vehicle after girls walking down the street heard screams and realized there was a baby inside.
The boy was not injured and was reunited with his mother. No arrests have been made. Police say they believe the thief was targeting the vehicle and did not realize there was a child inside.
