Police searching for abducted 4-year-old

The Vancouver Police Department is searching for a 4-year-old girl it says was abducted by her mother Thursday afternoon during a visit to Vancouver Mall.

According to police, Aranza Ochoa Lopez has been in foster care since she was removed from her original home in 2017. Police said her mother, Esmeralda Lopez Lopez, took her during a court-supervised visit.

The police department said officers and state  think that the child may not be safe.

Officers believe Aranza was last wearing a long-sleeved, dark blue shirt with a bulldog on the front; pink pants; and shoes with markings from the “PAW Patrol” kids TV show.

Esmeralda Lopez Lopez is also a person of interest in an earlier kidnapping and robbery, according to the police, and was last seen wearing a red and white striped soccer jersey, police said.

She usually drives a 2007 Toyota Corolla with Washington plates, No. BIW1076.

The police asked anyone who sees Lopez Lopez to not approach her and to call 911.

Correction: The above article originally reported that the Department of Social and Health Services was involved in trying to find the child. The correct involved agency is Child Protective Services, part of the Department of Children, Youth and Families.