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Woman And Baby Forced Into Trunk Of Car In Shopping Center Parking Lot
Two men are being sought after supposedly kidnapping a woman and a baby, forcing them into the trunk of a car outside a discount store in Inglewood, police said.
Witnesses said two men approached the woman and child in the Inglewood Shopping Center on the 2800 block of West Imperial Highway around 11:10 a.m. on Saturday, reports City News Service. The two were heading toward a silver Mercedes-Benz with chrome rims and tinted windows, and as they reached the driver's side door, the woman was forced to turn over her keys, and she and the baby were shoved into the trunk, before the car sped away. KTLA reports they exited northbound through the parking lot, then headed eastbound on Imperial Highway.
The shopping center was hit by shoplifters around the same time as the kidnapping on Saturday, too, NBC L.A. reports, and surveillance footage captured of the shoplifters matches witnesses' descriptions of the kidnapping suspects, police said.
"Even if it's the daytime, there's a lot of stuff that goes on around here," Stacy Mitchell, who works at the Big 5 in the shopping center, told NBC. "We have to sensor everything in here so there is a history of theft and stealing going on in the neighborhood."
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Inglewood Police said that no missing persons report had been filed, but they would still be investigating the case.
"I wouldn't call this a good neighborhood but I wouldn't expect that to happen," Sasha Sanders, who was shopping at the center Saturday, told NBC.
The missing woman is described as a black woman wearing a denim jacket, jeans, and a mutli-colored head scarf, and the baby was seen having braids and wearing a pink shirt and diaper.
The men were each described as black, around 20 years old, 5 feet 3 inches tall, and 140 pounds. One had short hair, and was wearing a gray striped T-shirt and blue jeans. The other was wearing a blue denim jacket, white shirt, black pants, and a black baseball hat.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Police Department's homicide line at 310-412-5240, or the 24-hour anonymous hotline number: 888-412-7463.
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