Boy, 3, found safe after being taken from home

Police on Monday located a missing 3-year-old boy who was taken by a woman earlier in the morning.

The boy was reported taken from an apartment in the Harney Heights area sometime around 6:40 a.m., according to dispatch logs.

Vancouver Police Cmdr. Scott Bieber said the three women involved in the incident were transients and had been squatting in the apartment for a week or two.

When a burglary was reported at the apartment, one of the women decided to protect the child from police and took him away, Bieber said.

Commuters might have noticed increased police presence in the area as officers searched roadways, trails and local businesses in a swath of central Vancouver for the boy. After about an hour of searching, an officer radioed that he found the woman and child near the intersection of Fourth Plain Boulevard and Rossiter Lane.

The child appeared to be fine, according to radio traffic monitored at The Columbian.

The woman was arrested on suspicion of reckless endangerment, Bieber said. Her name was not available.