Suspect Who Sparked Amber Alert With Car Theft Arrested After Kids Found Safe

BURTON, Mich. (WWJ/AP) - A 29-year-old man is in custody after allegedly kidnapping two kids who were sitting inside of their mother's car while she went to buy cigarettes.

The Flint man was arrested about three hours after an Amber Alert went out for 9-month-old Lincoln and 2-year-old Arianna.

The children were taken just before 7 a.m. Wednesday from the Admiral gas station on South Saginaw Street in Burton, just south of Flint. The mother told police she went inside the gas station to buy cigarettes, leaving her kids in the backseat of her Monte Carlo. As she was walking back to her vehicle, she says a heavy-set black man wearing a red hoodie jumped in the car and sped away. About three hours later, the vehicle was located in north Flint, and the children were found unharmed.

Law enforcement officials say they were able to develop a suspect by mid-afternoon using a description provided and took the man into custody.

Burton Police Chief Tom Osterholzer did not elaborate on what ultimately led police to the suspect. He says the man faces potential auto theft, kidnapping, and child endangerment charges.

Osterholzer wouldn't say if the mother who ran into the gas station while the children were inside the vehicle may face charges.

© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.