UPDATE: Walmart has confirmed with KLFY that the suspect, 30-year-old Jamar Davis of New Orleans, was not a Walmart associate and instead was hired by a 3rd party to do contract work at the store.
Kenner Police arrested a father accused of leaving his 2-year-old son alone inside a car while he worked a night shift at a Walmart, according to police.
It happened Monday when police responded to a report of a two-year-old male child, found by a customer, wandering the parking lot of Walmart located at 300 West Esplanade Avenue.
During an investigation, an officer observed a Walmart employee later identified as 30-year-old Jamar Davis of New Orleans searching the parking lot.
Police approached Davis and inquired if he was looking for a small child to which Davis identified himself as the father of the 2-year-old.
Davis explained to the officer that his shift at Walmart ended at 7:30 a,m. and that at 6:30 a.m. the mother of the child called and informed him she dropped off the child, leaving him inside of Davis’ vehicle.
Davis advised at 6:30 a.m. he walked outside to check on the child and left him with his phone so the child could watch videos.
He returned back to the store, according to police, to complete his shift.
Officer Martin reviewed the video of the parking lot and determined that Davis parked his vehicle at 11:00 PM the previous night. No vehicles appear in the video approaching Davis’ vehicle however, it was difficult to determine if a vehicle did approach based on the angle and quality of the video.
Davis was then observed going to his vehicle at 6:30 AM then returning to the store shortly thereafter.
At approximately 7:40 AM a customer finds the child wandering in the parking lot with no shoes. Due to the camera angle police were unable to determine at what time the child exited the vehicle and for how long the child may have been wandering the parking lot.
The child was medically evaluated, found to be in good health and released to the care of a family member.
It is an ongoing investigation and attempts are being made to contact the mother of the child.