UPDATED: Baby left in front of Pioneer Market

A customer found a baby left alone and strapped into a car seat in the parking lot of Pioneer Market in La Conner, prompting authorities to take the boy and his twin sister into protective custody.

Skagit County Sheriff’s Sergeant Jenny Sheahan-Lee said she couldn’t release specific information, such as the identities of the parents, while the investigation is active. The children are still in custody of Child Protective Services.

Barry Whipple, Pioneer Market’s store manager, said he was outside hanging lights on the store when a customer brought his attention to the stranded infant.

“I ran over there and we brought the baby inside,” Whipple said. “The baby was in the middle of the road.”

The 14-month-old boy was buckled into a child’s car seat and wrapped in a blanket. Whipple said he was found on top of a storm drain in the east side of the store’s parking lot, near the corner of the sidewalk at Morris and Whatcom streets.

He and another employee gave the baby an extra blanket, changed his diaper and took him upstairs while waiting for the police to arrive.

“It was about the time when the officer was trying to figure out what to do that the father came back,” Whipple said. “Probably about 35 or 45 minutes after we found the baby. The officer talked to him and found out there was a twin girl in the man’s car.”

At that time, police took both children into protective custody. The father, “was visibly upset,” Whipple said. “I’m not sure what the story was.”

Whipple said he didn’t know who the man was.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Kelly Howell said the mother is a 19-year-old woman from Burlington and the father is a 26-year-old man from La Conner. He said there are reports that the baby was left after an argument between the parents.

The discovery was reported to the Sheriff’s Department at 4:53 p.m., Dec. 14. The temperature outside was in the mid-20’s and the child is 14 months old, according to Detective Sergeant Jennifer Sheahan-Lee. The Skagit County Prosecutor’s Office has not been contacted at this time, she said, and the investigation is ongoing.