A Georgia mother pumping gas at midnight grabbed the closest weapon she had when a shirtless man allegedly came after her child at a Shell station.
The weapon was the gas pump.
Police later named the suspect as Jerahn Tucker, 30, and charged him with attempted kidnapping in connection with the July 23 Atlanta confrontation.
The mother has not been publicly identified, but the video shows her suddenly forced into a fight at the pump. She was filling up her car when Tucker allegedly moved in around the vehicle.
Her son eventually bolted through the driver’s side door, and Tucker allegedly chased him around the vehicle. The mother then ripped the gas pump from the car and used it to warn him away.
A second child was in the backseat, police said, when Tucker allegedly went for the rear door before being driven away.
The video showed the confrontation escalating before the chase. Tucker moved around the car, backed off after an exchange with the pump-wielding mother, then returned after a child opened and shut the passenger door. He later peered through a window as the mother stepped toward him.
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Tucker allegedly tried to leave by car, but police caught up with him soon after. Marietta officers took Tucker into custody with help from Cobb County Police.
Police said Tucker was barefoot and shirtless when he was arrested. The car also allegedly contained a THC vape.
Officers were also told by the Shell station manager that Tucker had been removed from the property more than once before the alleged kidnapping attempt.
Marietta Police Officer Charles McPhilamy praised the mother and bystanders in an interview with WSBTV for staying calm, pushing Tucker away from the children and getting police to the area.
Their actions, he said, “allowed us to hold this individual accountable.”
The motive remains unclear. “The million-dollar question everyone watching is going to ask: Why did this happen? Why did this occur? And we don’t know those answers,” McPhilamy acknowledged.
In Florida, a teenage girl was found inside a clothes dryer after calling 911 to report that she was being held hostage at a Key Largo home.
The emergency call sent Monroe County deputies to a Miramar Drive home around 11:45 a.m. on a Sunday in June, where investigators said the girl was later found hidden in the appliance.
Authorities arrested Christopher Michael Veit, 53, after investigators accused him of restraining the girl and putting her in the dryer.
Investigators also said Veit allegedly took her cellphone after she told him she wanted to leave the home.
The girl’s injuries were not considered life-threatening, and officials said she was evaluated at a local hospital before a family member took custody of her.
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office listed Veit’s charges as kidnapping, false imprisonment and unlawful sexual activity with a minor.
At the Key Largo home, detectives also seized evidence that officials described as “several sheets” of counterfeit currency.
In North Carolina, 18-year-old Griffin Haire was allegedly trapped in his own Mini Cooper for a 40-minute ride around Charlotte.
Haire, who has autism, stayed on the phone with his family during the ride. His relatives relayed his location to police while Amanda Gills, 44, allegedly drove him around the city.
Haire had stopped on his way home at 421 Tyvola Road in Charlotte when the June 25 encounter began around 6:20 p.m.
The gas station stop quickly turned confusing and frightening, according to dashcam footage later shown to WSOC by Haire’s father. The recording captured the moment Haire was confronted by a woman he did not know and ordered back into his own car.
“Get in the car,” Gills ordered. “I’m your designated driver. You are under the influence, and I have a drive for you.”
“Who are you?” Haire asked. “I’m scared of strangers.”
Gills allegedly drove through Charlotte while saying she was going to show him a “good time” and take him to the old part of town.
“Oh, no,” Haire remarked. “There’s a monster.”
Officers eventually spotted the Mini Cooper and tried to pull it over. Haire saw the officers, too. “There’s a cop,” Haire noted. “Pull over.”
Gills allegedly kept going as officers monitored the car from a helicopter. When the Mini Cooper slowed down, Haire jumped out.
Gills stopped the car afterward, and officers conducted a felony traffic stop before taking her into custody.
Dave Haire told WSOC he was proud of his son for being brave through the ride.
“What happened was one of the scariest things that you could imagine happening, and it is our worst fears come to life,” he said.
Gills faces charges of second-degree kidnapping, larceny of a motor vehicle and fleeing and eluding arrest, while police said she allegedly has mental health issues and is on probation. She remains in the Mecklenburg County Jail without bond.
