RCMP south of Edmonton are searching for a suspect after a truck with two children inside was stolen earlier this week.
At 9:35 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 29, police responded to a 911 call that an idling truck was taken from 60 Street. Two children — aged 7 and 9 — were in the truck at the time, RCMP said in a media release Thursday.
Cpl. Laurel Scott with the RCMP said the children’s parents were packing up the truck to head out of town when the vehicle was stolen.
“This happened so quickly,” she said.
Less than 10 minutes later, the truck was abandoned on Township Road 510.
“I think that the culprit got in the truck, was not aware that there were children in the truck and then panicked,” Scott explained.
“He stopped the truck — it was about two kilometres away from the house — he asked the children if they knew their phone number … He stopped the truck and when he got out of the truck, he told the children to call 911 and then he took off on foot.”
The children were not injured and made it home safely, police said.
“They were probably very, very scared. But pretty lucky that nothing more than that happened,” Scott said. “The situation could have been terrible.”
A police dog was used to try to track the suspect, but police said he got away.
RCMP continue to search for the male suspect and released a composite sketch on Thursday afternoon. He is described as being in his late 30s with a tattoo on his forearm and several rings on his fingers.
Anyone with information about the carjacking or the suspect is asked to contact the Beaumont RCMP at 780-929-7410. Anonymous information can be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online.
Beaumont is a city of about 18,320 people located about five minutes south of Edmonton.