Baby found safe after man steals car with infant inside from Minneapolis day care parking lot
Dramatic video shows a mother racing to try and rescue her 3-month-old baby in the backseat of a stolen SUV Tuesday evening in north Minneapolis.
The woman, asking to stay anonymous, is connected to the day care off Plymouth Avenue where the car theft happened. She showed WCCO their security footage, capturing a person walking towards the parking lot.
That same person appears to then walk up to her car, which is still running, and get in. The mother had left the vehicle exactly 59 seconds before.
Minneapolis police say they used license plate readers, city cameras and drones to try to find this car and the child.
Police Chief Brian O'Hara said his investigators were working with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to put out an AMBER Alert but it never got that point, because about an hour after the car was stolen, they found that vehicle a few blocks away from the day care near North 15th and Bryant avenues — with the child safe inside.
That hour was too long for O'Hara, whose department is responding to an uptick in stolen cars. People have taken more than 1,500 cars in the city so far in 2026. That's about 300 more than the first three months of 2025.
"I'd probably say auto theft is the biggest crime challenge that we have at this point this year, and it is frustrating because a large share is entirely preventable," O'Hara said.
He says in more than 600 stolen car thefts this year, the driver left their keys in the car.
"I feel sad for the parent who experienced this. I also feel bad for the parent who borned the children who are wandering around and have no direction," he said.
The mother in this case, believing the thief may be a teenager, is hoping city services and programs can step in to help them.
Police are still looking for the thief. O'Hara says it's possible they could face kidnapping charges.