An Indiana mother and her three children are safe following a carjacking Tuesday in Fultondale.

Law enforcement officials are searching for a white male, age 25-35, who reportedly stole the family’s car from the Shell service station on Walker Chapel Road.

According to Fultondale Police Department Lt. Phillip Mangina, the family had stopped to refuel and get lunch at Subway, which is located inside the gas station. He did not release the victims’ names.

The mother had parked her car next to the store to wait on her children, when a man approached and motioned for her to roll down the window, according to Mangina. When she did, he told her a liquid was spewing out from the passenger side of her car.

Mangina said the woman got out of her car to check, leaving the keys in the ignition.

“When she turned back around, he had gotten into the driver’s seat,” Mangina said.

The suspect backed out, knocking the woman down. The woman screamed for help, but the man drove away in an “unknown direction of travel,” according to the police report.

The victim was taken by ambulance to UAB Hospital and treated for minor injuries, Mangina said. She had reportedly scraped her knees and her head struck the ground when the car knocked her down.

About three hours after the car was stolen, a store employee at the 1100 block of Arkadelphia Road called the Birmingham Police Department because someone had abandoned a car at one of the gas pumps.

When the police department investigated the tag number, they found that it was the car stolen just hours earlier in Fultondale, according to Mangina.

The suspect had stolen some items from the car, but there was no damage to the vehicle.

The family stayed overnight in Fultondale, compliments of Super 8 Motel in Fultondale, according to a motel employee.

In addition, Sue McKay, secretary to Fultondale Mayor Jim Lowery, collected donations from city hall employees for the family. Also, Fultondale First Baptist Church, representing the Fultondale Ministerial Association, gave the family a gas card and provided breakfast for the woman and children, according to church secretary Becky Higgins.

Mangina said the general public can take a lesson from the incident.

“People need to be aware of strangers,” he said. He added that drivers should always take their keys with them when getting out of a vehicle.