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Fort Worth police: Three suspects steal car with infant inside; child returned to family but car remains at large

Police said they got a kidnapping call on Orange Street shortly before 1 p.m. Saturday. Authorities recovered the stolen car Monday.

FORT WORTH, Texas — Authorities are still looking for three people who Saturday stole a car with a 1-year-old child still inside. 

Fort Worth police located the vehicle Monday, but did not make any arrests. Investigators are now combing the car for evidence that might identify the thieves.

The incident happened around 1 p.m. Saturday, when police say two men and a woman approached the car parked outside a home near 1300 Orange Avenue. The 1-year-old and a 10-year-old were in the car, waiting for their mother to finish unloading groceries inside. 

The trio "realized they could get in the car and immediately threw the older child out of the car," Fort Worth police spokesperson Buddy Calzada said Monday. "The child literally fought to get back in and save the younger child inside and not let any harm come to them. One of the suspects actually punched this ten-year-old in the side of the head." 

The 10-year-old was transported to the hospital and checked for injuries, but the child is okay. 

The thieves escaped with the car, where the infant remained. The trio eventually left the one-year-old on a roadside about 2.5 miles away from the home where they stole the car. 

Police said a passerby noticed the child still in the car seat and called 911. West Division officers and medical personnel evaluated the child and then returned the child to the mother. The 1-year-old was not harmed. 

Calzada called the carjacking-turned-kidnapping a "crime of opportunity." The trio checked the vehicle's door handles and found the car accessible. It appears the thieves did not intend to take the child or target that specific car, investigators say. 

Authorities said Flock cameras spotted the stolen vehicle's license plates in Fort Worth. 

Once arrested, the trio will likely be charged with aggravated kidnapping, injury to a child, and auto theft. Fort Worth PD's Major Case detectives are investigating. 

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