A man and woman were arrested Saturday, hours after police said they kidnapped a 1-year-old boy from his mother at gunpoint in a Chamblee neighborhood.
The child was taken about 12:30 p.m. as the woman pushed her son in a stroller on Clairview Drive, Chamblee police said.
The child’s mother told officers a man got out of a maroon Acura SUV and pointed a gun at her hip before looking into the stroller and taking her son. She attempted to fight off the suspect, taking one of his shoes and ripping a piece of fabric from his shorts. She also managed to wrestle the gun away from the man and tried to shoot him, but the weapon didn’t fire, according to police.
The suspects, later identified as Maynor Dario Valera Zuniga and Kristin Nicole Valera Zuniga, put the child in the SUV and drove toward I-85, authorities said.
An Amber Alert was issued for 1-year-old Mateo Alejandro Montufar-Barrera and the FBI was called in to investigate.
The child was located about 5 p.m. after state troopers spotted the suspects’ SUV in Carroll County and stopped the vehicle, according to Chamblee police. The boy, who was unharmed, has since been reunited with his mother.
Both suspects were arrested at the scene and are being held in Carroll County, Chamblee police said in a statement. The kidnapping investigation has been turned over to the FBI.
It’s still unclear what prompted the kidnapping or if the suspects knew the child and his mother.
— Please return to AJC.com for updates.
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