A survivor of a 2019 mass shooting is offering a $10,000 reward in the search for an Ohio twin baby taken in a car theft and is now considered by police to be a kidnapping victim.
As the search for 5-month-old Kason Thomass entered its fourth day Thursday, Dion Green, who survived a 2019 mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, that claimed the life of his father, established the reward for the baby's safe return.
"I hope and pray that this baby is found safe and that we can get him back home to his mother," Green said in a Facebook post on Wednesday announcing the reward.
On Aug. 4, 2019, Green was out with his father, Derrick Fudge, in Dayton's Oregon District when a 24-year-old man went on a shooting rampage, killing nine people, including Fudge, and wounding dozens more. In the aftermath of the massacre, Green founded the Fudge Foundation to help individuals impacted directly and indirectly by mass shootings, violence, human trafficking, domestic abuse and other forms of trauma.
Nalah Jackson, a suspect in the disappearance of Kason Thomass, captured on video at a gas station in Huber Heights, Ohio.
Columbus Ohio Police
"My main concern is the child," Green told ABC affiliate station WSYS in Columbus. "I just want to get the baby and make sure we get him returned back home safely."
The search for Kason, who was last seen wearing a brown onesie, was launched Monday night after he and his twin brother, Kyair, went missing when a homeless woman allegedly stole their mom's running car. The twins were inside the vehicle as their mom stepped away to pick up a food order, police said.
Kyair Thomass was found around 4:40 a.m. Tuesday abandoned at the Dayton International Airport, more than 70 miles from Columbus.
Police identified Nalah Jackson, 24, as the suspected car thief and said investigators believe she still has Kason in her possession.
Amber alert poster issued for Kasson Thomass.
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Columbus police officials said on Wednesday there had been no new sightings of Jackson, Kason or the stolen 2010 Honda Accord since surveillance cameras captured Jackson allegedly abandoning Kyair in his car seat in a parking lot at the Dayton airport, authorities said.
Jackson has been charged with two counts of kidnapping.
During a news conference on Tuesday, Dayton Police Chief Elaine Bryant issued a desperate plea to Jackson to safely surrender the infant, saying, "we're begging you to please return Kason."
The FBI is assisting in the search for the suspect and Kason, providing personnel and technology.
Bryant said the incident unfolded about 9:45 p.m. Monday while Kyair and Kason were alone in the Honda Accord their mother left running after stopping a Donatos Pizza restaurant in the Short North Arts District of northeast Columbus to pick up a Door Dash order.
The stolen car of missing child Kason Thomass' mother captured on video at a gas station in Huber Heights, Ohio.
Columbus Ohio Police
The mother's car was stolen soon after she went into the restaurant, police said. When the mother turned to look at her car from inside the restaurant, she noticed it was gone along with her twins, police said.
Bryant said witnesses told police that Jackson was seated inside the restaurant when the mother walked in.
