RICHMOND (AP) — A massive Christmas Eve search for a 2-year-old boy who was in the backseat of an SUV that was stolen following a double-slaying in Richmond ended around midnight with the boy being found safe.
Richmond police said in a Tweet late Saturday: "2-year-old Kaiden Burnside is OK. Found alone inside SUV off Jennie Scher Road. Thanks to everyone for assistance."
Authorities late Saturday identified the suspect as 27-year-old Jamal Louis Clemons of Richmond, Va. They say Clemons is wanted for abduction, robbery, robbery with a firearm and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony by a convicted felon.
Richmond city police said in a press release that shortly after 5 p.m., officers responded to a report of two persons down and found an adult man and an adult woman inside a Church Hill residence. Both had been fatally shot.
Witnesses reported that a man fled the scene inside a 2012 white GMC Terrain SUV that was left with the motor running and the boy strapped in the back seat, the news release said.
The Virginia State Police issued an Amber Alert at 9:39 p.m. EST Saturday for the boy, identified as Kaiden Gage Burnside. They described him as having short blond hair and blue eyes, and wearing a red plaid shirt, a cream-colored vest with a red truck carrying a Christmas tree, dark green corduroy slacks and white light-up sneakers.
"The child is believed to be in extreme danger," the alert said.
City police described the suspect — later identified as Clemons — as a black man in his mid- to late 20s, 5-foot-8 and 150 to 160 pounds, with black hair and wearing dark jeans and a black zip-up sweat shirt with a hood. He is believed to be armed with a revolver.
"We don't believe that he knew there was a child in the back seat," Richmond police Maj. Steve Drew told the newspaper.
Police said they didn't believe the shooting was random but have not released additional details about the victims or their potential relationship to the suspect.
Officers continued to search early Sunday for the suspect.
Richmond police did not return repeated calls from The Associated Press on Saturday evening.
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