Deputies respond to reports of an attempted kidnapping
(Above and left) Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies and Fire Department officials respond to reports of an attempted kidnapping in Canyon Country on Tuesday. A suspect was confronted, however, no arrest was made in light of mental health considerations.
A Canyon Country mother shared praise for her 12-year-old son Wednesday for the way he reacted when a man tried to grab him in the stairwell of a Canyon Country apartment complex the previous day.
The boy is safe and unharmed.
Deputies with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station rushed to the complex on Tyler Lane for reports of a kidnapping.
A suspect was confronted. However, no arrest was made in light of mental health considerations.
“We had a call for a kidnapping,” said Lt. Ignacio Somoano, who heads up the SCV Sheriff’s Detective Section. “It did not turn out to be a kidnapping. No arrest was made,” he said.
While the incident was unfolding, however, the perceived notion of being held against one’s will resonated deeply with the boy and his family.
“I asked my son to go downstairs to get drinks,” Marisol Abraham said. “He said: ‘Yes mom. So he went downstairs and within a minute, I hear him screaming, ‘No no no.’
“I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’
“He opened the door, and he was panicking and crying. I asked him, ‘What’s going on?’ He said ‘Someone’s after me.’”
Abraham prepared to confront the person.
“I grabbed a plate — whatever I could get. And, when I came down he was already running. I asked him to stop.”
The man kept running, Abraham said, saying she alerted her husband.
“I asked my husband to get him and that’s when he (suspect) turned around and he (husband) grabbed the guy and held him and we called police,” she said. “My son said he (suspect) was hiding downstairs and when he saw him walking alone, he tried to grab him by the shoulders.
“My son reacted and threw the drinks at him. He didn’t catch him because my son reacted. He did what he was supposed to do,” she said. “We always give him scenarios and he reacted.
“I’m really proud of him because, even though he was crying, he did exactly what he was supposed to,” Abraham said.
Asked if she has advice for SCV mothers, she said: “We just need to be alert and keep our kids informed as to what to do. Keep telling their kids what to do.”
He went downstairs and within a minute, I hear him screaming, ‘No no no.’ ”
Canyon Country mother, about her son