KEY POINTS

  • The woman walked into the store with the child but rushed outside leaving him behind
  • Employees tried to stop her, but she ran towards an apartment complex nearby
  • Officials said the child received medical attention and is in good health

Police are on the lookout for a woman who abandoned a toddler at the convenience store of a gas station in Ohio.

The woman entered the Circle K filling station in Columbus on Thursday morning with the child, believed to be 15 months old, police said. According to the employees at the convenience store, she left the child and ran outside. While some of them tried to go after her, the attempt was futile as the woman was nowhere to be found.

The woman had rushed into an apartment complex nearby, cops said, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

Surveillance footage shared by a WSYX reporter on social media showed the child helplessly standing at the door after the woman exited the store.

Police were called to the scene at around 8:45 a.m. and began searching for the woman. The toddler was taken to the Nationwide Children's Hospital for a medical check-up and is in good health, officials said. The child is now in the care of Franklin County Children’s Services (FCCS).

Investigators are now seeking the public’s help for any information that could lead to the woman who abandoned the child. She was last seen wearing a purple coat with a hood.

FCCS put out a media release and described the abandoned child as an African-American boy with short brown hair and brown eyes. They also noted that he was wearing pajamas that had characters from the children’s show called Paw Patrol. Authorities are hoping that somebody will come forward and identify the child or his legal guardians.

Anyone with information about the child or the woman can call Columbus police at 614-645-4545 or the hotline managed by children's services, 614-229-7000.

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Representative image Credit: Pixabay

A similar incident took place in New York after a mother allegedly abandoned her 7-month-old baby inside a small grocery store.

Markishsa Greene, 32, walked into a Brooklyn mini-market with her baby in a stroller. She asked the owner if she could use the restroom and left the stroller unattended. Surveillance cameras caught Greene coming out of the restroom and then walking out of the store without her child. She was later arrested and charged with abandonment of a child and acting in a manner injurious to a child.

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