Man Escaping From Captors Abducts 2 Girls in Van
A presumed kidnap victim became a kidnaper himself Friday night when he escaped his captors at a service station in Castaic by stealing a car with two young girls in it and fleeing through gunfire, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reported.
The two little girls--Amanda, 4, and Jana Engholm, 2--were found about an hour later, apparently unharmed, in the abandoned van in Pasadena, deputies reported.
Their hometown was unavailable.
A young black man, who had apparently been abducted from Los Angeles by at least three other black men, stole a silver 1987 Dodge Caravan containing the two sisters, said Sheriff’s Lt. Ed Chenal of the Santa Clarita Valley station.
Chenal said that the original kidnaping may have been drug- and gang-related. The children were waiting in the van for their father to pay for gasoline when the other group arrived in two cars to buy fuel. The man escaped from his captors, leaped into the van and sped off, Chenal said.
Chenal said the original kidnapers pursued the van and shot at it.
Deputies caught one of the pursuing cars and arrested one suspect, he said.
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