Parents leave baby in a running car to gamble, Texas cops say. Then both were stolen

A Texas couple was gambling inside a gas station when their unlocked and running car was stolen, police say.

Their 16-month-old child was in the back seat, cops say.

Kimberley Cook, 21, and Anthony Blue, 29, went to play gaming machines inside a Shell gas station Sunday night in Harris County, just north of Houston, according to a Sheriff’s Office news release.

While the two were inside, car thieves took the Chrysler 300 and drove away with the child, police said.

Initially, Cook told investigators she and Blue went inside the store and came back out to find the car stolen, police said. However, police say the parents arrived at the gas station about 11:30 p.m. and played the gaming machines, periodically checking on the sleeping child.

The car was stolen shortly after midnight, police said.

During the search for the stolen car and child, a park ranger was closing a park about 17 miles away when he found the baby “shivering in a onesie,” KTRK reported.

Houston police took the child to a hospital for observation, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Not long after the baby was found, police spotted the stolen car and chased it until the driver stopped, the release said. Vincent Leon Cannady, 19, and Jabari Jonathan Davis, 18, were arrested and charged with auto theft and felony kidnapping.

Cook and Blue were arrested and charged with child abandonment.

This story was originally published January 13, 2020 at 4:18 PM with the headline "Parents leave baby in a running car to gamble, Texas cops say. Then both were stolen."