Michigan police declare “urgent situation” after 2-year-old kidnapped

Police in Michigan are searching for a 2-year-old girl who they say was kidnapped by a man on Sunday.

An Amber Alert was issued Monday at around 2 a.m. for 2-year-old Wynter Smith. The Lansing Police Department said Rashad Maleek Trice, 28, was wanted in connection with Smith’s kidnapping. The two were last seen on the south side of Lansing in a 2013 white Chevrolet Impala at around 11:30 p.m. on Sunday, the police department said in a Facebook post.

“This is a very urgent situation,” the post said.

In an update shortly before 6 a.m. on Monday, the police department said Trice had been arrested but Smith was still missing. He was taken into custody in the city of St. Clair Shores, about 100 miles southeast of Lansing. Police did not provide details of the charges he faces.

Smith is described as a Black female with braided, shoulder-length hair. She was last seen wearing a white T-shirt with rainbows.

Anyone who sees Smith or has information about her whereabouts is urged to call the Lansing Police Department at 517-483-4600 or Crime Stoppers at 517-483-7867.

Newsweek has contacted the Lansing Police Department for further comment via email.

The Amber Alert System allows law enforcement across the county to notify the public about missing children who are believed to have been abducted.

AMBER stands for America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response. The system was created as a legacy to 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was killed in January 1996 after she was kidnapped while riding her bicycle in Arlington, Texas.

There are 82 Amber plans throughout the country. As of January 2, 1,127 children have been successfully recovered because of the Amber Alert system, according to the system’s website.

Last week, authorities in North Dakota issued an Amber Alert for a missing 3-year-old who they said “may be in danger of bodily harm.” The child, Beatris Lorraine Decoteau, was later found safe

Earlier, an Amber alert was issued in Bell County, Texas, for a 7-year-old girl, Kryslee Hernandez. She had been seen walking into a wooded area with her 39-year-old mother, Amanda Guerra, last Tuesday. The two were located on Wednesday morning, police said.

In June, a 7-year-old girl was found safe several hours after an Amber Alert was issued following her abduction on a street in Dallas.

Dallas police said Lillie May Anderson was last seen being driven away on June 11 “in a grey SUV [of] unknown make, unknown model, and unknown license plate.” The girl and her 9-year-old brother had entered an unknown man’s vehicle after he offered to take them for a ride, TV station KDFW reported.

The vehicle drove away with the girl after the boy went to the front door of a store. Almost six hours after the Amber Alert was issued, the girl was seen walking up a sidewalk in her apartment complex.