California police have initiated a manhunt for the father of a 6-month-old baby. The man is considered a person of interest in connection to the infant's disappearance after he stole a gun and ran away, said authorities on Saturday.
Matthew Graham, 23, missed a meeting with his probation officer and fled with his monther's semi-automatic pistol after new information came to light about the disappearance of his daughter Ember Graham, according to Fox News.
The father reported Ember's disappearance on July 2 and has since given authorities inconsistent accounts of where he was the night she went missing. He is considered "armed and dangerous," Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko told reporters on Saturday. An arrest warrant was issued for Graham on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm and violating his probation, according to The LA Times.
He was last seen at a gas station in Shasta Lake on Sunday afternoon, wearing a green T-shirt and a baseball cap, according to the Shasta Area Safety Communications Agency.
Graham was in jail for a separate probation violation, which was a result of a DUI and forgery conviction, but was released this week after he pleaded guilty.
Search teams are still looking for Ember and are focusing mainly on the Ono area, approximately 15 miles southwest of Redding, where they found a pacifier similar to Ember's last week. It has still not been determined if the pacifier belonged to the infant - it will be submitted to the lab for a DNA test, Bosenko said, but results may take "up to about 8 weeks," NBC News reported.
Meanwhile, Shasta Area Safety Communications Agency officials have asked people in the area to "keep an eye out, while locking their doors and cars."
