In a distressing incident, a five-month-old baby girl, Amonye Avant, was taken at gunpoint by her father, but fortunately was found safe on the same day. Action News 5 reported that the Memphis Police Department was alerted to the situation after the child's non-custodial parent, identified as 31-year-old Robert Avant, entered a residence uninvited and forcibly took his daughter following a confrontation with her mother.
The mother, who was visiting a friend's house on Neely Road at the time, shared with police how the argument escalated when Robert Avant brandished a handgun to threaten bystanders who attempted to intercede. Action News 5 detailed how Avant fled on foot with the child, sparking a swift and intensive search that would soon involve foot patrols, vehicles, and drones issuing a City Watch alert to bring her to safety.
According to WREG, Avant was wielding a pink 9mm handgun during the abduction. Baby Amonye was found at 5:30 AM in the 3400 block of Southland Drive, where officers converged to recover the child, who was unharmed and still wrapped in her purple and pink Paw Patrol blanket.
In a brief but harrowing account by Local Memphis, authorities were to notify the media before dawn that Amonye was safe and her father was taken into custody. The Memphis Police Department also released footage of the child post-rescue, ensuring the community that the baby was secure and the situation was under control.
