Man Caught on Camera Stealing a Family's 2-Year-Old Dog and Car: 'I Was Watched and Targeted'

A Cleveland mother is pleading for the safe return of her beloved Shorkie after she says the pooch was stolen from the family’s vehicle in broad daylight earlier this month.

In a Facebook post shared on Saturday, Alaina Yantko revealed that her 2-year-old Shorkie named Lucy was kidnapped just seconds after she went inside a local deli. Yantko also went on to claim that Lucy’s kidnappers had been watching her before the incident.

“STOLEN DOG!!!!!!!” Yantko wrote alongside photos of Lucy as well as a recording of surveillance video of the kidnapping.

“I was watched and targeted as I was getting my kids out of the car! They stole my dog in a split second while I was preoccupied! I was able to get the plate but the car was stolen too,” Yantko continued. “4 people were in the car but I only saw the driver. Young black male with short dreads.”

“They threw my phone out a couple blocks away on w 52 and Train,” Yantko claimed, adding that little Lucy can be identified “with a bad haircut and an underbite.”

“Please keep an eye out! And watch your surroundings!” Yantko added.

In the clip, Yantko is seen unloading her children from an SUV before walking inside the convenience store.

While inside, a car is captured pulling up alongside Yantko’s vehicle. A man then gets out of the car and opens the passenger door of Yantko’s car and appears to dig around the front seat before transporting an object back to his own vehicle. The man then goes back into Yantko’s car for something else — presumably Lucy.

Yantko is then seen running toward the vehicle, with her baby on her hip. She frantically bangs on the window. However, it’s too late as the driver quickly pulls out of the parking lot and flees the scene.

A man viewing the footage can be heard saying, “He took the dog!”

Yantko explained to local outlet Fox 8 that it was just a typical Saturday afternoon when she decided to take a trip to Ohio City Deli to deliver something to her husband.

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“I noticed there were only two cars in the parking lot and one of them was his,” Yantko told Fox 8. “I was just trying to get the kids in the store and I was going to come back out to get my purse and something else I had brought for my husband.”

According to Fox 8, the man stole Yantko’s purse and cell phone before taking the dog.

“I came out and he threw her in the car and when I grabbed the mirror, he just looked right at me and kept on going,” Yantko told Fox 8.

After reporting the incident to police and giving authorities the license plate number, Yantko was informed that the car was reported stolen.

RELATED: What to Do If Your Dog Is Stolen: Keep Calm and Update Your Pet’s Microchip

“To watch him watching me was the worst part because I didn’t notice him. Then he pulled up and backed up to watch me go through my car and unbuckle a baby,” Yantko told Fox 8.

“The phone, the money, the purse, none of it matters. We just want our dog back,” Yantko said.

Both Yantko and the Cleveland Police Department did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.