A Tacoma family’s nightmare turned into relief after they had found their dog who was stolen from their car. It was all thanks to the tips that were shared by the community, the family said.

ALLEGED THEFT:

KIRO 7 spoke with Jessica Perschon, the owner of the dog, Roo, on Wednesday.

Perschon said she and her baby boy were shopping at B & A International Foods on Portland Avenue East Tuesday afternoon.

KIRO 7 received security camera footage that captured a white Range Rover pulling into the parking lot, right near the store’s front entrance.

Perschon is seen walking into the store as two men eventually get out of the Range Rover, one walking inside the store and the other walking towards the parking lot.

“What I do know is that they saw my car pull into the parking lot and they specifically walked past other cars to go to my car,” Perschon said.

Another security camera later captured the Range Rover pulling up near Perschon’s parked SUV. A man exited the car and was seen reaching inside the SUV and stealing a dog.

The man got back inside the white Range Rover and drove off.

“I can’t believe this is what people are doing,” she said. “Hysterical. I was hysterical. I was hysterically crying.”

Perschon said the suspects also stole a bag of diapers.

KIRO 7 saw Perschon’s SUV where her right rear window had been smashed.

Perschon told KIRO 7 that she does not know the suspects.

She called the Tacoma Police Department to ask for help.

“Called the police as well. The police in Tacoma weren’t super helpful. Just said fill out an online report. So we went searching up and down every street,” she said.

KIRO 7 reached out to the Tacoma Police Department for more details. We are still waiting to hear back.

SEARCH FOR DOG:

Perschon said she and her family searched the streets for her beloved dog.

“I felt alone. I felt like if we don’t do it, no one will do it,” she said. “Several of us just scoured the streets for hours. Looking for the dog. I mean stopping the mailman, ‘hey do you know a white Range Rover that lives in this neighborhood’ for hours and hours.”

Perschon’s cousin helped her look for the pup.

“It was heartbreaking. She was distraught. It was so sad,” said Amanda Pepper, Perschon’s cousin who helped search for the dog. “Devastated, just heartbroken for her. Just devastated for the family. I mean we’re a really tight-knit family. We do everything together. We take the dogs with us everywhere.”

The family went on social media and pleaded for the public’s help to find her stolen Roo.

Their posts went viral.

“Because everyone posting, so many people in the community posting, hundreds of people, we got an alert from the Thurston County Scanner page Facebook that had said a white Range Rover had been stealing the day before in Olympia in Thurston County,” Perschon said.

She said a deputy with the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office shared public records with her about a suspect who was arrested in connection to the suspect vehicle.

Tips from the community were flooding in, Perschon added, which led her to find the white Range Rover.

“We found the abandoned white Range Rover and we called the police immediately. In the four minutes that we called police, we had gotten a message that someone found the dog and could return the dog,” she said.

Perschon said a man messaged her that he had found the dog.

She met him in Tacoma, while Tacoma police supported her, and reunited with her beloved dog.

“This is the worst day of my life, and it’s also the best day of my life. I can’t believe he’s back,” she said.

Perschon said she does not know the man, how the man found her dog, or any possible links with the suspects.

Perschon and Roo were reunited about a week before their four-year anniversary.

“I’m just so happy he’s home. I’m just so happy he’s home,” she told KIRO 7.