3-Year-Old Boy Found Safe in Toronto After Amber Alert

File photo of a police car. A 3-year-old boy who was the subject of an Amber Alert was found safe in Toronto early in the morning on May 14, 2019. Diego Parra/Pixabay

A 3-year-old boy who was the subject of an Amber Alert in Sudbury, Ontario, and his mother were found safe in Toronto early Tuesday morning, according to the Greater Sudbury Police.

William Gooden, 3, was believed to have been abducted by his mother Breana Gooden, 25, in Greater Sudbury, and the two were believed to be in Toronto after taking a bus there. An Amber Alert was issued at 5:00 a.m. Tuesday.

Toronto Police were able to locate the boy and his mother at an address on Bruyeres Mews in downtown Toronto early in the morning after receiving a call to their tip line.

According to police, the boy was last seen by his guardian when he was dropped off with his mother at a mall in downtown Sudbury at noon Monday. Police were contacted around midnight after William was not returned home.

Officers began an investigation by checking areas where Breana was known to visit and checking Greyhound and Northland Bus Stations, as Breana does not have access to a vehicle, according to police. At around three this morning, police say that an employee at Northland confirmed that the two boarded a bus to Toronto on Monday afternoon and arrived in the evening.

The Greater Sudbury Police are grateful for the public’s assistance in helping to find the boy.

“We would like to thank everyone for their assistance including the Ontario Provincial Police for distributing the Amber Alert, the Toronto Police Service for following up on the information received and all of the community members who called our Tip Line with information,” they said in a news release.

However, the Amber Alert was not well received by a number of people, who called in to the police to complain about being woken up at such an early hour. This prompted the Toronto police to issue a tweet around 7:00 a.m. asking people not to use the emergency line to complain.

“Once again our Communications Centre has been receiving a number of calls from citizens using it as a platform to complain about being awaken [sic] by the Amber Alert. REMINDER: 9-1-1 is for EMERGENCIES ONLY. Please help us to keep our phone lines free for real emergencies. Thanks,” the tweet reads.

Toronto Mayor John Tory also tweeted a response reminding people that being woken up by an Amber Alert is not an emergency.

According to the Sudbury police, criteria for initiating an Amber Alert may include:

• the child is under 18
• there is a belief the child has been abducted
• there is information available that may help locate the child and/or abductor, such as a description of the child
• the alert be issued within a reasonable amount of time from the moment of the abduction.