VINITA TERRACE, Mo. _ Two children were safe Thursday after briefly being kidnapped by a thief armed with a gun who took their mother's car from a gas station in Vinita Terrace, northwest of St. Louis.
Police swarmed the area in search of the suspect and vehicle, according to Chief Tim Swope of the North County Cooperative Police Department.
At 2:40 p.m., an officer located a vehicle fitting the description of the white BMW that was stolen at the corner of Skinker Boulevard and Wells Drive. The license plate had been removed, Swope said. The area was about 1 { miles from where the vehicle was taken.
Two men who were inside the vehicle were arrested and one of them fit the description of the suspect, he said. Police were trying to determine whether the passenger had a role in the incident.
"We are trying to piece together the involvement of the second person," Swope said.
The man who took the car apparently let the children out about a half a mile away in University City about 8:15 a.m. Police say they appeared to be unharmed. They are a girl, Skylar Smith, 4, and her brother, Stephon Smith, 2.
"I'm very grateful to God, I am," said Lucy Davis, the children's grandmother, who was reunited with them. "I'm elated."
Capt. Steve Runge of the North County Police Cooperative said the suspect had been sought for armed criminal action, kidnapping and stealing a motor vehicle. He said the gas station surveillance camera captured a good image of the suspect.
The children's mother had left the children in the car while she went inside to buy snacks at about 8 a.m. That's when a man, armed with a gun, jumped in the car and sped off, Runge said.
The North County Police Cooperative provides police services for seven municipalities, including Vinita Terrace where the Mobil gas station on Page Avenue is located.
The children were were dropped off on Fairham Avenue in University City.
Someone on Fairham called police to report seeing two children wandering down the street, said Detective Lt. Fredrick Lemons II of University City police. An officer stopped and talked with the children and then drove them back to the gas station.
When police reunited the children with relatives, the little girl was seen carrying a stuffed animal.
Davis, the children's grandmother, said Skylar and Stephon live with her in Hanley Hills, about three blocks from the gas station. Davis wasn't with them Thursday morning but heard about what happened from her daughter.
Her daughter, Myia Woolfolk, 28, of St. Louis, was on her way to work. She had her children in the backseat, in their car seats. They were awake. She fueled up, then went inside the gas station to get some snacks. Davis said she doesn't know if the car was running but assumes the keys were left in the ignition.
Davis, 52, rushed to the gas station when she heard about the kidnapping. Minutes later, the family was jubilant when officers told them the children were found safe.
"I pray to God for protection, and I never had doubt they would be safe," she said.
Skylar told Davis a little of what happened.
"She said the bad man took her and Stephon, and stole the car," Davis said. "That's all she said."
Davis said the children were checked out by a paramedic to make sure they were OK. She said she assumes the gunman wanted the car, not the kids.
"He probably jumped in the car before he realized there were kids in the car," she said.
