A 4-year-old girl was allegedly abducted from a California restaurant by a suspected homeless woman, police said.
The Santa Monica Police Department said a “frantic” grandmother called police at 12:11 p.m. local time as she and her 4-year-old granddaughter were eating lunch at a Panda Express restaurant.
Police arrived at the scene “within minutes” desperately searching for the missing boy, authorities said.
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A woman said her 4-year-old granddaughter was kidnapped while they were eating at Panda Express. (Universal Images Group/Getty)
Authorities quickly gathered video footage of possible suspects and began sending additional units to the general area of the restaurant.
Police said more than 30 law enforcement officers were searching for the suspect.
Video footage revealed the suspect was a heavyset white woman in her 30s.
People walking, shopping. Pedestrian street in downtown Santa Monica. (iStock)
At 12:37 p.m., officers located the suspect and the child in a room at the Holiday Motel.
“Fortunately, the child was unharmed and the suspect was arrested,” police said.
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Police said “no stone was left unturned” in their investigation.
“Our best wishes go to the girl and her family as they deal with the impact of this terrible experience,” police said. “We will do everything we can to ensure they receive help at this time and also to ensure that no stone is left unturned in the investigation.”
Authorities, who did not immediately release the suspect's name, said she was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping.
A 73-year-old woman was attacked in May by a homeless person. (Morgan Lieberman/Getty Images)
The alleged kidnapping comes after a 73-year-old woman was assaulted by a homeless man in May.
The woman said she was on her daily morning walk and tried to move out of his way so he could pass, but “he intentionally pushed her to the ground,” causing an injury to her back and cuts to her hands, police said.
About a week earlier, a homeless man was arrested for attempting to rape a female jogger.
Santa Monica residents said the city is “not what it used to be.” (Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office/Facebook)
One Santa Monica resident said the once-idyllic seaside town “isn't what it used to be.”
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“Everyone knows that Santa Monica is not what it was three or four years ago,” one resident told FOX 11. “Every day is something new.”
