Police: 2 Children Found Safe Following Carjacking In Newark
NEWARK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- There were terrifying moments in Newark on Tuesday when a vehicle with two children inside was carjacked in broad daylight.
As CBS2's Aundrea Cline-Thomas reported, police later found the children safe.
The car was parked just steps away from a bank. Cline-Thomas saw a number of drivers pull up and leave their cars running on what was a cold day as they used the ATM. One car was targeted, however, and it was all captured on surveillance video.
Just before 4:30 p.m., the suspect is seen casually walking across Bloomfield Avenue. He approaches a parked white SUV and pauses for a second before opening the driver's side door and taking off.
According to police, a 9- and 11-year-old were inside.
As the suspect drives away, the video shows someone running from the direction of the bank, attempting to stop the car, but it was too late.
"This is a heavy-traffic area and a lot of times the people don't want to find parking. They want it to be convenient, get out of the car, leave the car double parked, leave it on and this is what happens," said Dr. Arturo Sanchez, owner of nearby Suave Dental.
Police said the suspect ran away from the car, which was found with the children inside blocks away.
A view from Chopper 2 showed officers at another location swarming the area around North 11th Street between Second and Third avenues. They surrounded a man on the sidewalk, but police did not confirm if the incident was connected to the carjacking.
"This is a lesson for everybody to know that it just takes one second. You could lose your kids. It could happen here. It could happen anywhere," Sanchez said.
That's the sentiment of area residents CBS2 spoke to off camera. They were surprised by the incident.
While it must have been a terrifying ordeal for the children, police said they were not physically injured.
