A 7-month-old baby was found safe after she was taken from a Gwinnett County business Monday night along with her family’s vehicle.
Her father left the vehicle running while he went inside a store at the intersection of Sugarloaf Parkway and Lawrenceville Highway, according to Gwinnett police. His daughter was asleep in the back seat.
Multiple people called 911 shortly after 6 p.m. when they saw the father come out of the store and confront a man who had climbed into the driver’s seat, police spokesman Cpl. Collin Flynn said.
“The father confronted the male, who put the vehicle in reverse and began driving recklessly out of the parking lot,” Flynn said in a news release. “On the way out of the parking lot, the vehicle struck a sign, another vehicle, and jumped the curb.”
A search was launched after the emergency call was broadcast on police radio, he said. Officers, Gwinnett sheriff’s deputies and a police helicopter “saturated the area to look for the vehicle,” according to Flynn.
“An off-duty officer who heard the call also responded to the area and found the vehicle abandoned in a parking lot less than a mile from the original incident location,” he said. “The 7-month-old child was still in her car seat unharmed.”
During the search, officers also located the suspect, 29-year-old Joshua Rodriguez. The Buford man was identified using video surveillance from the parking lot, Flynn said.
He was arrested on charges of aggravated assault, kidnapping, theft of a vehicle and two counts of hit-and-run.
Rodriguez has a long history of arrests in Gwinnett County dating back to 2008, online jail records show. He has been charged with multiple counts of burglary, probation violations and traffic violations.
He was being held at the county jail without bond Tuesday morning on the most recent charges.
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