Kids Abducted During Car Theft Found Safe
NORWALK -- Two young children who were left alone inside a car that was stolen outside a Norwalk dry cleaning business were found safe inside the car nearly three hours later in Compton.
A citizen who heard the Amber Alert recognized the Scion the children were said to be in and called police.
The car was found abandoned at a gas station at Atlantic and Rosecrans at about 6:30 p.m., according to police. The children were inside the car, apparently unharmed.
They were taken to the Norwalk Sheriff's Station, where they were reunited with their parents.
The abduction happened around 3:45 p.m. Tuesday outside Gems cleaners at 14414 Pioneer Blvd., said Capt. Patrick Maxwell of the Norwalk Sheriff's Station.
Maxwell says the windows of the 2004 blue Toyota Scion were heavily tinted so it is not clear if the suspect knew the children were in the back seat watching movies.
The children were identified as 4-year-old Noel Vasquez and 2-year-old Sheryl Lynn Vasquez.
The father says he left the vehicle running with the kids inside watching movies while he ran into the dry cleaners.
When he returned a few minutes later, he says the car and the children were gone.
Witnesses described the suspect as a Latino man with a shaved head wearing a white t-shirt and dark shorts.
He remains at large.
Maxwell said investigators believed the suspect seized the opportunity to steal the vehicle, and was not trying to kidnap the children.
The car's windows were tinted and the suspect probably didn't even know the kids were inside the car, he added.
The children's father, Adrian Vasquez, said he was "lucky" his kids were not hurt. He also said he learned a valuable lesson.
"Never leave the kids in the car, not even for a second. Just take the babies with you," Vasquez said.
A citizen who heard the Amber Alert recognized the Scion the children were said to be in and called police.
The car was found abandoned at a gas station at Atlantic and Rosecrans at about 6:30 p.m., according to police. The children were inside the car, apparently unharmed.
They were taken to the Norwalk Sheriff's Station, where they were reunited with their parents.
The abduction happened around 3:45 p.m. Tuesday outside Gems cleaners at 14414 Pioneer Blvd., said Capt. Patrick Maxwell of the Norwalk Sheriff's Station.
Maxwell says the windows of the 2004 blue Toyota Scion were heavily tinted so it is not clear if the suspect knew the children were in the back seat watching movies.
The children were identified as 4-year-old Noel Vasquez and 2-year-old Sheryl Lynn Vasquez.
The father says he left the vehicle running with the kids inside watching movies while he ran into the dry cleaners.
When he returned a few minutes later, he says the car and the children were gone.
Witnesses described the suspect as a Latino man with a shaved head wearing a white t-shirt and dark shorts.
He remains at large.
Maxwell said investigators believed the suspect seized the opportunity to steal the vehicle, and was not trying to kidnap the children.
The car's windows were tinted and the suspect probably didn't even know the kids were inside the car, he added.
The children's father, Adrian Vasquez, said he was "lucky" his kids were not hurt. He also said he learned a valuable lesson.
"Never leave the kids in the car, not even for a second. Just take the babies with you," Vasquez said.
