A missing four-year-old boy was reunited with his family on Tuesday evening after two women, who had received an Amber alert about an abducted child, located him.
The California highway patrol issued an alert for an abducted child in Long Beach and advised the public to be on the lookout for a gray Honda Accord. Police said the vehicle was stolen with Justin Chan inside after his parent left the car running while making a delivery.
The alert was sent to phones in Los Angeles and Orange counties on Tuesday evening. In California, the highway patrol issues Amber alerts in confirmed cases of abduction of children or anyone with a mental or physical disability.
Two friends, Reagan Dunn and Yenni Lu, received the alert while they were in the area and decided to go looking for him, they told ABC7.
They drove around searching for the vehicle for 10 minutes without finding anything but decided to keep looking.
“She was driving and I glanced over. I was like, wait I just saw a gray Honda Accord, and I saw 8XP, which was the license plate,” Dunn told the outlet. “She turned around and we parked over there. I called 911. We ran across the street and the license plate matched up.”
No one was around the car, Lu told the Long Beach Post. But the pair spotted Chan in the backseat of the car and waited nearby until officers arrived.
Footage captured by media showed police surrounding the vehicle and the boy reuniting with his father. An officer put Chan in his father’s arms and the four-year-old gently touched his face, appearing to wipe his tears away.
The Amber alert was cancelled about an hour after it was issued with authorities reporting that Chan had been located.
“We were just doing the right thing,” Dunn said. “Something anyone else should do.”
The Long Beach mayor praised the women.
“I want to give a heartfelt thank you to the [two] remarkable young women who spotted the vehicle from the amber last night in Long Beach,” Rex Richardson said. “Your courage and quick actions are commendable.”
