Owners of a New York City bodega on Monday were holding out hope that they would be reunited with their store’s kitten after a couple passing by the store days earlier appeared to abduct the cat in plain view of a surveillance camera and ignited an intense grassroots search effort.

The plight of three-month-old Jabal began on Thursday morning in Brooklyn, when he went just outside the Eighth Street Mini Market where he lives as it opened for the day. A man walking alongside a woman passed the Park Slope market then picked up Jabal, and the pair took off as the kitten visibly squirmed, according to store surveillance video which the bodega’s owner, Imad “Jimmy” Innab, reviewed after he noticed the cat had gone missing.

Dan Janzen, who lives across the street from the Eighth Street Mini Market and is one of its regular customers, said someone immediately ran after the couple and told them the kitten belonged to the bodega – but they were unmoved, stuffed Jabal into a bag and left with him anyway.

As the New York Post and the local CBS affiliate soon reported, Innab and his family subsequently offered a $500, no questions asked reward for Jabal’s safe return, which was announced on a poster. Supporters of the bodega also canvassed the streets of Park Slope for Jabal while the neighborhood’s forum on the Reddit platform provided updates on the search efforts.

One thread dedicated to Jabal’s disappearance had a photo of the couple who took the kitten and was titled, “Anyone Know These Two?” It generated about 1,000 upvotes – which indicate Reddit users’ approval of a thread – and more than 240 comments, with many aiming to help reunite Jabal with the Innabs.

Another thread titled “Stolen Bodega Cat?!?” also called attention to Jabal’s catnapping, along with the news media coverage, which publicized the shocking surveillance footage of the kitten being brazenly snatched.

There was palpable optimism that the campaign had paid dividends by Monday, when Janzen – speaking on behalf of Innab’s store – said the bodega had received a call from someone claiming to know who had Jabal. That person said Jabal would be brought back to the store from the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick later on Monday, according to both Janzen and Innab.

But as the store closed on Monday night, Jabal had not been brought back to the Eighth Street Mini Market, according to an employee at the store. Employees at the bodega said they had been in touch all day with New York police and had reason to believe officers would ultimately bring the kitten to the store.

New York police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Janzen at one point on Monday was with Innab eagerly awaiting the bodega owner’s reunion with Jabal. “As much as we love the kitten, we love him more,” Janzen said of Innab. “We were rallying around him to keep his hopes up.”

Innab on Monday said he had been particularly affected by Jabal’s snatching because the Eighth Street Mini Market’s prior bodega cat, Victoria, had died in June after living there for 17 years. Innab took in Jabal to succeed Victoria.

Bodega cats are deeply embedded in the fabric of New York City, serving to help keep vermin under control while also acting as living mascots for the stores where they reside. They can be seen lounging among store offerings or roaming along the freezer cases – among assorted other activities – in pictures on certain widely followed social media accounts, including @bodegacatsofnewyork on Instagram.

Janzen on Monday made it a point to say that Innab refused to entertain the thought of not getting Jabal back. As Janzen put, Innab “always said, ‘I have a feeling he’s coming back.’”

Innab said the way the neighborhood where his store had stood for 39 years supported him after Jabal’s abduction “means everything” to him.

“The people are very beautiful – very good – here,” Innab said of Park Slope. “And I thank everybody who tried to help me.”