A visit to McDonald’s turned terrifying for a woman in Norcross when a man allegedly tried to take her 10-month-old daughter from the backseat of her car in the restaurant’s parking lot Wednesday morning.
Sterlyn Reynolds, 19, was arrested and charged with kidnapping and cruelty to children and was taken to the Gwinnett County Jail, according to Norcross police spokeswoman Cpl. Michele Pihera.
The child’s mother told police she didn’t know the man who allegedly attempted to abduct her baby. She said she first noticed him near her car as she and a family member and the baby went into the restaurant at 6165 McDonough Drive.
The man came into the restaurant and sat near the family, the woman told police. After they finished eating, the family went back to their car and the mother buckled her daughter in her car seat in the back, Pihera said.
As she headed to the front seat of her car, the man came out of the restaurant, opened the back door of her car and began unbuckling the baby and attempting to pull her out of the car seat, the mother told police.
“The family member ran to the suspect and began to struggle with him in an attempt to stop the abduction,” Pihera said. The man bit the family member during the struggle, Pihera said. “The mother began hitting the suspect from inside the vehicle while holding the baby down. The mother bit the suspect on his arm, grabbed her baby, and ran back inside the restaurant,” Pihera added. The man ran away toward a nearby hotel.
The baby suffered minor injuries to her arms and neck.
The woman, her family member and witnesses provided a description of the suspect. Officers patrolling the area picked up Reynolds at the nearby Horizon Inn Suites.
The mother and family member said they have never seen the man before, and had no idea why he would try to abduct the baby girl, Pihera said.
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