Deputies Save Toddler Held Hostage in Carson

A toddler and a woman taken hostage in their Carson home by a suspected bank robber on the run from sheriff’s deputies were rescued unharmed early Thursday, and the man was driven out of the house with tear gas, authorities said.

Kenny McGraw, 24, of Los Angeles was arrested and charged with robbery, false imprisonment and felony evading, Deputy Sheriff Scott Gage said.

Shortly after he robbed two locations in Carson “within a matter of minutes,” the suspect was spotted driving a vehicle and was pursued by sheriff’s deputies around 9 p.m. Wednesday, Gage said.

He crashed his car on a street corner and ran inside a residence occupied by two women and an 18-month-old child, Gage said.

The suspect, who deputies said was armed at the time of the robberies, sent out the toddler’s mother, who told authorities that the suspect was inside the house, Gage said.

Sheriff’s deputies and a SWAT team accompanied by a K-9 team surrounded the house and began negotiations with McGraw, he said.

Meanwhile, deputies spotted the toddler through an open bedroom window, entered the room through it and took the child without the suspect’s knowledge, he said.

The second woman was rescued the same way shortly afterward, he said.

With negotiations failing, deputies threw tear gas into the house, and McGraw surrendered around 4.30 a.m. Thursday, Gage said.

He said the women and the child, whose identities were not released, were unharmed during the rescue.

McGraw suffered from tear gas inhalation but was otherwise unharmed, Gage said.