Couple Steals Beloved Brooklyn Bodega Kitten, Setting Off Neighborhood Search

A woman seen on surveillance video walking away with a Brooklyn bodega’s 3-month-old kitten apparently has an explanation: it was all a misunderstanding.

More importantly, she told the owner she still had the cat.

The woman called Eighth Street Mini Market in Park Slope on Monday after recognizing herself in news coverage of Jabal’s disappearance, according to PIX11. She said she intended to bring him back.

Then the waiting began.

The Phone Rings

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Jabal disappeared Thursday morning after wandering outside Eighth Street Mini Market while owner Imad Innab was working inside.

Surveillance video showed a man and woman walking past the store. The man picked up the kitten, and the couple continued down the street with him.

The disappearance quickly drew attention around Park Slope. Neighbors posted flyers, customers went searching and the family offered $500 for Jabal’s safe return.

By Monday, police had also become involved. PIX11 reported that officers came to the store and took a report.

Then came the call the family had been hoping for.

A woman contacted Innab around noon and told him she had Jabal. According to the station, she said she had seen herself in the news coverage and described what happened as a misunderstanding.

She told Innab she was going to bring the kitten back.

Still Waiting

Several hours later, Jabal still had not appeared.

PIX11’s Nicole Johnson reported live from outside the bodega as Innab repeatedly checked his phone and neighbors gathered nearby waiting for the promised reunion.

The woman had not arrived by the time of the report.

Innab said he did not intend to press charges. His priority was getting Jabal home.

The latest development also followed another reported encounter with the couple shortly after Jabal disappeared.

Ken Park told Gothamist that he encountered the pair with Jabal in Prospect Park and asked them to return the kitten.

Park said they refused. He said the woman was carrying Jabal inside her jacket before the couple eventually walked away.

A New Mascot

Jabal had only recently joined the bodega.

Innab got the kitten after Victoria, the store’s previous cat, died following about 17 years as a neighborhood fixture.

The 3-month-old Jabal already wore a collar and was weeks away from being microchipped when he disappeared, according to CBS New York. Customers told the station he had quickly developed his own following.

“Every time I went into that deli, there would be a line of people just going and petting the cat and saying hi to it,” neighbor Seb Mitchell said. “It was like a celebrity.”

Monday’s phone call appeared to put Jabal closer to home than at any point since Thursday.

But when PIX11 finished its report from outside Eighth Street Mini Market, the woman who said she had him still had not walked through the door.