NATIONAL BRIEFING

A mother whose newborn was reportedly kidnapped by a knife-wielding woman posing as an immigration agent was briefly reunited with her baby, then saw him and her three other children taken from her and put into state custody.

Rob Johnson, a spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services, said the children were taken from their mother, Maria Gurrolla, “purely for safety reasons,” though he would not detail why the state deemed they were in danger.

“Our focus is on the children, and under the current situation right now, we think the safest thing to do is take the children into state custody,” he said.

Gurrolla, 30, was stabbed in her home Tuesday, just four days after giving birth to Yair Anthony Carillo, who was snatched by the attacker.

Nashville police said the baby was found in good health Friday night at a home in Ardmore, Ala., about 80 miles south of Nashville near the Tennessee line, and a woman there was arrested in the case.