One person has been taken into custody after a vehicle with a baby inside was stolen from a gas station in Mississippi’s capital city.
On Saturday night around 7:45 p.m., the Jackson Police Department issued a BOLO for a white Mazda with a Florida license plate taken from a Shell gas station on Beasley Road and last seen driving south on Interstate 55. According to Detective Tommie Brown, there was a seven-month-old female child inside at the time.
At 8:19 p.m., Brown informed the media that the vehicle had been in the parking lot of Brent’s Drug Store in Jackson’s Fondren District. The child was located and appeared to be unharmed but was transported to a nearby hospital as a precautionary measure. No suspect was located at the time.
On Monday afternoon, Capitol Police captured the person they believe stole the vehicle at the abandoned Clarion Hotel in Jackson. 44-year-old James Wilson was taken into custody and charged with auto theft and kidnapping, per a report from WLBT.
During Wilson’s perp walk, he told the TV station: “I didn’t steal a car. It wasn’t me.”
No charges have been pressed against the mother at this time. However, Jackson Police Chief Joseph Wade said his department is working with Child Protection Services and the Hinds County District Attorney’s Office to see if this specific case calls for child neglect charges.
