A day after a blind and non-verbal Edmonton woman was abducted in central Edmonton, police have released a photo of two men suspected in the crime that triggered a short-lived Amber Alert.
“Investigators believe these are the two male suspects who stole the vehicle (last night) with a vulnerable 40-year-old woman seated in a wheelchair inside the vehicle,” Edmonton Police Service northwest branch Staff Sgt. Andrew Larson said in a statement Friday afternoon.
The woman was taken at 7:25 p.m. Thursday in the area of 118th Avenue and 91st Street. An Amber Alert was issued about an hour later.
Police said the van she was in was left idling outside of a store while her caregiver ran inside to make a quick purchase.
“It was just an unfortunate situation,” Larson said during a Friday afternoon news conference, while reiterating the importance of locking vehicles.
The stolen 2013 white Toyota Sienna van was discovered by an off-duty RCMP officer parked and still running on a street in Fort Saskatchewan shortly thereafter, just before 9 p.m.
Trina Smith lives across the street from where the van was found.
She said she heard a vehicle speeding down her road and looked outside. She saw a white van and, having just received the Amber Alert on her phone, it set off her spidey senses.
“Then within like 45 seconds to a minute, there was four or five cop cars down here on the street. An ambulance rolled up a fire truck. A lot of hustle and bustle right away.”
FULL STORY: https://globalnews.ca/news/10039674/edmonton-amber-alert-suspects/
