Police: Stolen vehicle and 9-month-old boy located

WEST PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) - Police say they have located a stolen vehicle and a 9-month-old boy in West Philadelphia.

Khalil Johnson couldn't believe his eyes when he came out his front door on Wanamaker Street and saw a white SUV, the same one he had just heard about on a TV news report.

"Walked out the door--looked up the street--here's the vehicle," Johnson told FOX 29 Tuesday night. "Myself and two detectives arrived at the car at the same time and once we opened the door--there's a little child back there."

Johnson watched as two detectives removed a 9-month-old boy from the still running GMC Terrain. The child was OK after a 90 minute ordeal that touched off a huge search when the SUV was stolen from outside a tattoo parlor with the boy inside. His mom was in the tattoo parlor getting her tongue pierced.

"She has the piercing completed inside the tattoo parlor, she then leaves, returns back to her car and realizes the car is now missing. She calls 9-1-1," Southwest Detectives Lt. John Walker explained.

"She's wrong you don't leave a child in a car unattended not even for five seconds, especially in this heat," Johnson added.

An hour and half later, the SUV with the air conditioning still on was spotted by Johnson and detectives in the 200 block of Wanamaker Street. The suspect who stole it was long gone.

"Getting out of that car for a second and leaving the child for a second is not conscionable. You can't do it--you can see how things like this happen. We're fortunate to have a positive result here," Lt. Walker said.

The child was taken by ambulance to a local hospital where he was checked out by doctors, then reunited with his mother. Police say she still faces questions about why she left the child alone in the SUV.

"She's being questioned by our Special Victim's Unit," Lt. Walker said.

Police still searching for surveillance video and trying to identify the suspect who took the car and the child. FOX 29 stopped by the mother's home Tuesday night where a woman described her as normally a good mother with three more children. She was stunned to hear about this incident.

No charges filed so far in this case.

This is a developing story, please stay with FOX 29 for updates.