In a dramatic showdown at a Georgia gas station, a quick-thinking mother used a gas pump to thwart an alleged attempt to abduct her children, all caught on surveillance footage released this week.
Captured by FOX 5 Atlanta, the footage depicts the tense moments as the woman refueled at a Shell station in Marietta around midnight. Without warning, a shirtless and barefoot individual, identified by authorities as 30-year-old Jerahn Tucker, made his way toward her vehicle.
According to Charles McPhilamy, the Public Information Officer for the Marietta Police Department, the encounter began with Tucker conversing with the woman before the situation swiftly became alarming.
“Tucker suddenly charged at the vehicle,” McPhilamy detailed. “In a terrifying attempt, he tried to open the doors and forcibly remove a child from the back seat.”
Surveillance footage captured the mother engaged in refueling just moments before police allege a shirtless assailant approached her family’s car, attempting to take her children at the Marietta, Georgia Shell station. (WAGA)
A warrant cited by FOX 5 Atlanta says the mother later told investigators Tucker claimed he had a gun before becoming aggressive.
Surveillance video shows one of the woman’s children jumping from the vehicle and running around it as Tucker chased after him. At one point, Tucker opened the rear passenger door while another child remained inside the vehicle.
The mother then grabbed the gas pump hose and used it to keep Tucker away from her children until two bystanders rushed over to help, the video shows.
Surveillance video captures the mother using a gas pump hose to keep the suspect away from her children as police say he tried to pull one of them from the family’s vehicle. (WAGA)
“What is this individual capable of?” McPhilamy said. “What are they doing? Why are they trying to get in my own car? What are they doing? Trying to pull children out of the car.”
Two witnesses dropped what they were carrying and rushed over to help as someone called 911, FOX 5 Atlanta reported.
Tucker got into his vehicle and drove away, but officers stopped him a short distance from the gas station and took him into custody.
Surveillance footage shows a man police identified as Jerahn Tucker trying to open the family’s vehicle as the mother confronts him during the alleged attempted kidnapping at a Marietta gas station. (WAGA)
“The actions of the mother and everyone on the scene, their ability to remain calm under pressure and push him away, get him away from the children, get a hold of us so that we can get to the area allowed us to hold this individual accountable,” McPhilamy told the station.
Tucker remains in the Cobb County Jail on charges including kidnapping and simple assault.
Authorities have not released a possible motive for the alleged attack.