Police: Woman, 3 children kidnapped after armed 18-year-old steals minivan in North Philadelphia
Police: Woman, 3 children kidnapped after armed 18-year-old steals minivan in North Philadelphia
Authorities have arrested a man accused of stealing a delivery driver's mini van with his girlfriend and three kids inside. Police said the address that he was told to deliver to is abandoned, leading investigators to believe the carjacking may have been a setup.
PHILADELPHIA - Investigators from the Philadelphia Police Department say an 18-year-old has been arrested for stealing a car with a family inside in North Philadelphia.
Officers were called to the 2800 block of Warnock Street around 11 p.m. Tuesday for reports of a stolen car with children inside.
Chief Inspector Scott Small said when officers arrived on scene, a 36-year-old man said he was making food deliveries on Warnock Street with his 35-year-old girlfriend and three children, ages 8, 5 and 1, in the car.
According to police, the victim was told by the person who ordered the food to come to the front door. When he exited the car, police said a suspect wearing all black clothes and a ski mask looked inside his vehicle, a 2005 Chevy Venture minivan, and got into the driver's seat.
The man ran back to his car, but the suspect locked the doors and sped away with his girlfriend and three children inside. Police said the girlfriend and carjacker got into a struggle during which he threatened to kill her.
Authorities say Shaun Triplelett stole a delivery drivers car with his wife and three young children inside.
Police say she jumped from the vehicle as it sped down the street and suffered a minor leg injury. The suspect dropped off the 8-year-old a few blocks away from where police say he stole the car.
The suspect then ditched the car on the 1200 block of Cambria Street with the 5-year-old and 1-year-old asleep in the backseat. Officers recovered the car and reunited the children with their parents.
After abandoning the minivan, police said the man fled in a white Chevy Impla with two others inside. A Philadelphia police chopper followed the car as all three passengers bailed and ground officers chased down 18-year-old Shaun Triplelett.
Philadelphia police say a teenager armed with a gun stole a minivan with a woman and three children inside.
The delivery driver, his girlfriend and one of the children who was in the car positively identified Triplelett as the suspect, according to police. He was found with a loaded weapon, police said.
Small told reporters after the carjacking and chase that the address the victim was told to deliver food to is abandoned, leading investigators to believe the carjacking might have been a set up.
Triplelett is facing charges of kidnapping, robbery, aggravated assault and other offenses.
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