Child is wearing a red jacket, pink pants and white hat, with shoulder-length black hair
By Andrea Janus,
CBC News Posted: Mar 10, 2017 6:32 AM ET Last Updated: Mar 10, 2017 8:42 AM ET
Toronto police have issued an Amber Alert as they search for a four-year-old girl who was inside a car that was stolen this morning when it was left running outside the family home.
Here are details of the four-year-old, identified by police as Christina Nguyen:
- Asian.
- Three feet tall.
- Black shoulder-length hair and brown eyes.
- Was wearing a red jacket, pink pants and white hat.
Investigators are asking residents to be on the lookout for a 2008 Toyota Camry with licence plate BHVH 392. Anyone seeing the car is advised to call 911.
"We're asking that whoever took the car, leave the car somewhere with the child in it and contact us anonymously at 416-808-2222 and just let us know where the car is," Det. Ranbir Dhillon told reporters outside the family's home.
He said police don't have any information about a possible suspect.
Police are looking for a Toyota Camry similar to this one after it was stolen with a four-year-old girl inside, in the Jane and Lawrence area of Toronto. (Toronto Police)
There have been no confirmed sightings of the car, OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt told CBC Toronto. Police have received calls about possible sightings, including near Highway 403 and Mavis Road in Mississauga, just west of Toronto, and near Cambridge, about 100 kilometres southwest of the city.
OPP cars are patrolling roads and following up on reported sightings, he said.
'An opportune crime'
Police were called to the home in the Jane Street and Lawrence Avenue area shortly after 6 a.m. ET, Staff Sgt. Tim Jacob told CBC Toronto.
The girl's mother started the car in the driveway to get it warmed up, then went back into her home to get a second child, police said. She came out to discover the car and the child were gone.
"We are thinking it's an opportune crime where it's a vehicle that's running and nice and warm for somebody to take it," Jacob said. "We are concerned for the child's safety for obvious reasons."
A police car is seen outside the home where a car was stolen with a child inside on Friday morning. (Christopher Mulligan/CBC)
Jacob said "time is critical" whenever a child is involved in such an incident.
"Hopefully the suspect, once he realizes there's a child in the back, that they abandon the vehicle in a public area," Jacob said.