San Diego

A South San Diego man and his 4-year-old son were kidnaped by three armed men early Tuesday morning after the masked assailants broke into their home and terrorized the man’s family at gunpoint for more than an hour, police said.

Francisco Sanchez, 23, and his son, Francisco Jr., were taken away in a late-model light blue Dodge station wagon after having been tied up as the three gunmen searched their home in the 1900 block of Dunning Circle, police said.

When the men, who also bound Sanchez’s wife and small daughter, didn’t find what they were looking for, they left with Sanchez and his son, Detective Art Palmer said.

Armita Sanchez, 21, told police that she and her husband were awakened suddenly by the three gunmen at 6:45 a.m., Palmer said. They spoke entirely in Spanish and left about 8 a.m. after unsuccessfully searching for something, Palmer said.

Freeing herself shortly after the gunmen left, Armita Sanchez called police, Palmer said.

Detectives are still trying to determine a motive for the kidnapping, he added.

Bill Robinson, police spokesman, said the license plate number of the station wagon used in the kidnaping is 1NDX542.

There have been no ransom demands, Palmer said.

Robinson said Sanchez works as a cabdriver in Tijuana.