Parents Charged in Nashville After Car Left Running With Baby Inside Is Stolen

The parents of a one-year-old boy have been charged with child endangerment after leaving their child alone in an “unlocked, running car” before it was stolen outside a supermarket in East Nashville, Tennessee, on Wednesday, October 6, police said.

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) said the parents – father Ruhumuriza Mukunzi (29) and mother Nyirankumi Nyirankumi (26) – had been shopping at the Kroger supermarket in Inglewood for about 20 minutes when 33-year-old suspect Brandi Rhodes walked up to their Ford Focus and drove away with baby Nolan Ishimwe inside. It was another 40 minutes before the parents exited the store, realized the car and their child were missing, and called 911, MNPD said.

Officers arrived minutes later, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) sent an Amber Alert with a photo of Nolan to cellphones across Middle Tennessee, asking the public to look out for baby Nolan and the blue car he was last seen in.

The car was found shortly after midnight, about five hours after Mukunzi’s 911 call, on Home Road, a short distance from the Kroger. Nolan was found asleep and unharmed inside, police said.

“After discussion with the District Attorney’s Office, the parents of one-year-old Nolan Ishimwe are being charged by citation with child endangerment, a misdemeanor,” MNPD announced on Thursday.

Police were still looking for the suspect, Brandi Rhodes, as of Thursday. Rhodes already had an “outstanding warrant for failure to appear in court on a misdemeanor assault charge,” police said. Credit: Metro Nashville PD via Storyful