This is one of those highly improbably things that could only occur in a book or a movie, but this time, it was very real.

Barbara Gusse lives in Center Brooklyn and loves watching birds.

She’s a loving grandmother of nine and spends a lot of her free time in her yard, with some binoculars in hand to spot birds.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=110633862849890&set=a.110633879516555&type=3

One day, however, she spotted something a lot more shocking than just birds and saved a small child’s life.

In the afternoon, Barbara actually got a text message notification on her cell phone. It was an Amber Alert for a missing child and possible kidnapper, and the text simply stated that people in the area should keep an eye on a large white Jeep Grand Cherokee. A one-year-old boy would be sitting in the backseat.

The vehicle was reported stolen just two hours earlier in North Minneapolis, and there was still a child in the back seat.

https://www.facebook.com/MinneapolisPoliceDepartment/posts/10160865135267516

As soon as she got the Amber Alert, Barbara actually realized that she’d seen a car like this across the street. She caught the white Jeep in the parking lot of a nearby church, but of course, didn’t think anything of it – until she got that alert, of course.

“It was running, you could see the exhaust because it was so cold,” the vigilant woman told Minnesota Star Tribune.

Barbara got the Amber Alert in the middle of a phone call with her daughter, and she immediately hung up the phone to check out the license plate, with her binoculars in hand.

https://www.facebook.com/AMBERalert/photos/a.433791886107/10153963987561108/?type=3

“We were just talking and the Amber Alert came on and buzzed on all our phones,” daughter Katye Stolp added.

What the woman feared came true – the license plate was a complete match.

“My heart went to my feet,” Barbara said. “I was shaking so bad I couldn’t hold a cup.”

The next phone call she made was to the police department, who quickly arrived at the scene to recover the child and reunite him with his worried family.

https://www.facebook.com/MinneapolisPoliceDepartment/photos/a.497601387515/440892827515/?type=3

Luckily, the little boy was safe and wasn’t injured in any way, although he must’ve been quite shocked by the whole thing and was crying when the police arrived.

“I’m just happy because I could hear that little thing crying when they opened the door,” she told WCCO CBS Minnesota, clearly upset and emotional. “I’m just glad he’s OK.”

The child’s mom still recalls how it all went down. One moment, she strapped her little boy in the car seat and went to get something in the house – the next minute, the car and the baby were gone.

“She was crying and saying that I was thinking about my own grandchildren, if something like that happened to them I would be beside myself,” daughter Katye added.

The Minneapolis Police Department couldn’t praise the actions of Barbara enough.

“This is really exemplary of what happens when the community assists and we are eternally grateful for the 911 caller advising us of where the vehicle was,” Minneapolis Police Department Spokesperson John Elder told. “The fact that she was alert and willing to reach out is beyond appreciated.”

Even though the little man was still understandable upset, police officers describe that the baby was “all smiles” as soon as he calmed down a bit. They took him for a quick trip to the hospital for a check-up.

Unfortunately, the perpetrator hasn’t been caught yet but is looking at some severe charges of auto theft as well as kidnapping.

Barbara says that she isn’t a hero at all and that any grandmother in her position would do the same.

“Honey, I’m no hero. I’m just a grandmother,” she said.

Be sure to check out this incredible story in the video below.

Please SHARE this with your friends and family.

Source: WCCO – CBS Minnesota, ABC 6 New KAALTV, Minnesota Star Tribune