Doorbell Cam Captures 'Disturbing' Moment Toddler Is Abandoned At Doorstep

Surveillance footage from a Texas home's doorbell security camera captured the shocking moment a woman abandoned a toddler on a stranger’s doorstep.

The video was released by the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office Thursday morning, and it shows a woman frantically running up to a door in Spring, Texas, dragging a child by the arm. She's carrying bags in her left hand. She then rings the doorbell before leaving the child, identified by police as a 2-year-old boy, and the bags.

The incident happened Wednesday evening and a person who lived at the home called 911 to report that she heard a knock at her door and that when she went to answer the door she found the child standing there alone.

The entire incident lasted just 23 seconds.

The abandoned child is uninjured and in good health, police say. Child Protective Services responded to the scene and took custody of the child.

Just hours after posting the surveillance video online, police were able to identify the 2-year-old boy.

“With the help of our local media and our community, the father of the abandoned child has been located,” police said. The boy is now in the care of his dad, according to KTVT in Dallas Fort-Worth. In fact, the father lived next door to where the boy had been left, according to Good Morning America. 

Police say that the woman in the video was a friend of the the 2-year-old’s mother, who was in the hospital, and was supposed to drop off the child at his dad’s, according to KTVT. Police believe the woman, who has not been identified, dropped the child off at the wrong home. She faces a charge of child abandonment, according to outlet.

"I was gut-wrenched," Lt. Scott Spencer said of the video at a press conference, according to Good Morning America. "It was very alarming and very disturbing and my heart was hurting for that child."

[Photo: Montgomery County Sheriff's Office]