Last week, a Memphis mother and her 1-year-old son were abducted at gunpoint outside a Target. One of the suspects was arrested yesterday. The other suspect is still on the run from authorities.
On August 31, Memphis Police responded to a call that a mother and her baby were approached at gunpoint by two men while the mother was putting groceries into her vehicle in a Target parking lot. She told authorities that the men jumped out of a tan vehicle and attacked her while her child was still sitting in the shopping cart.
The two assailants demanded money, but the victim told the men she did not have any. So instead, she handed the attackers her wallet and gave them the pin number to one of her cards, reported WREG-TV.
The men grabbed her child from the shopping cart and forced the two into her car. The victim said she sat in the vehicle’s front seat with one of the men. The other man, who was armed, sat in the back seat with her 1-year-old son.
The men drove to a nearby bank and demanded that she withdraw $800 from the ATM. After the men collected the money, they drove back to Target and made the mother and child get out of the vehicle.
The suspects attempted to wipe their fingerprints from the debit card used to withdraw money from the ATM. They returned the card to the woman’s purse and left with her wallet. The mother ran inside Target to alert staff to the incident.
Authorities were able to obtain photos of the men from a Walmart security camera, taken prior to the kidnapping. Law enforcement released the images to the public of the wanted men in hopes of identifying the two individuals.
On Tuesday morning, Memphis police identified and arrested 25-year-old Will Hayes as one of the suspects in the kidnapping, reported WHBQ-TV. He has been charged with two counts of aggravated robbery, two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, and employment of a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony.
The other suspect has not yet been identified or arrested. Memphis Police reported that the investigation is still ongoing.
The kidnapping of the mother and baby occurred only two days before the kidnapping and murder of Eliza Fletcher. The Memphis schoolteacher was abducted while out on a morning jog.