2-Year-Old Kidnapped In Car Left Running Outside Gas Station

CHARLOTTE, NC — A toddler is back with her mother Tuesday morning after she was kidnapped from outside a south Charlotte gas station overnight. The two-year-old girl was taken when thieves stole the car she was in after her mother left the vehicle unlocked and running outside the convenience store, according to reports.

The incident occurred shortly before midnight at the QuickTrip gas station, located at 7115 South Boulevard in Charlotte, when the child’s mother left the child in the running Ford Focus, and two men hopped inside, WSOC reported.

The suspects quickly abandoned the car about two minutes away from the gas station, leaving the child unharmed in the backseat. They have not been located.

Charlotte police issued the toddler’s mother a citation for child neglect, which is a misdemeanor.

The incident fits the profile of preventable thefts that Charlotte Police have been campaigning to curb in the metro area. Auto thefts spiked 12 percent in the Charlotte metro region, according to police, who say the increase in crimes of opportunity are due to keys left inside vehicles. Many of the thefts occurred while cars were left warming up in the morning or at gas stations.

SEE ALSO: Auto Thefts Spike In Charlotte, Police Blame Keys Left In Vehicle

Unlocked vehicles and those left with keys inside them account for 30 percent of the almost 2,800 auto thefts in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department jurisdiction in the past year, Lt. Brad Koch said last month.

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