A German shepherd puppy that was stolen from a 14-year-old boy at gunpoint has been reunited with her family, police said late Friday.
The dog was taken from the teen on Thursday while he was walking the dog in his San Leandro neighborhood, according to police.
The boy, whose identity has been protected because he is the victim of an armed robbery, said he was unsure if he would ever see his beloved dog again.
He was "surprised and excited" on Friday when San Leandro officers called him to say that a man had returned the pup to the police department.
Police officials said that the man who returned the dog was not connected to the theft, and that he had instead heard news reports and recognized the pup as the newly-purchased canine that a friend bought off the street for a few hundred dollars.
"This is a tremendous ending for us," said Robert McManus of the San Leandro Police Department." lt's not very often that we're able to solve cases like this, and in a case like this, it's equally as important not only to catch the armed robbers...but to return the dog to the 14-year-old boy."
Detectives said two men armed with a pistol approached the teen in the 1500 block of Dayton Avenue in the city's Washington Manor neighborhood and stole the 3-month-old canine named Maya.
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No other information was immediately available.
Police are expected to release further details on Saturday.
