Mom forced out of car as suspect threatens to take kids in Newark

🚗 A man allegedly jumped into a car with a mother and her two children inside and threatened to drive off with the kids during a carjacking.

👮 Police tracked the stolen vehicle, but the suspect fled again, before officers caught him.

⚖️ Newark police arrested 28-year-old Pedro Salazar, who now faces a carjacking charge after the frightening ordeal for the family.

NEWARK — It was a harrowing ordeal for a mother and her two children who escaped a carjacking in Newark.

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On Sunday, March 8, just before 8 p.m., police responded to Bloomfield Avenue on a call about a carjacking, said Newark Public Safety Director Emanuel Miranda, Sr.

Newark carjacking suspect threatens to drive off with children

A man had left a woman and her two children inside a parked vehicle while he went into a store.

That’s when the suspect, later identified as Pedro Salazar, 28, of Newark, jumped into the driver’s seat and demanded that the woman, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, get out, or he would drive off with the two kids, ages 17 and 4, sitting in the back seat.

The woman and the kids got out of the car before the suspect drove off.

Newark police hunt down a carjacker after a woman and her two children escaped harm (Newark NJ Dept. of Public Safety/Canva)

Police track stolen vehicle through Newark streets

Thanks to a vehicle tracker, police located the stolen car on Mt. Prospect Place. But, when they arrived, Salazar drove off again, heading northbound, striking a parked car along the way, then abandoning the vehicle on Clifton Avenue.

Suspect caught after hiding in Newark backyards

Salazar ran on foot, hiding in multiple backyards on Clifton Avenue and Ridge Street before being caught by the cops on Parker Street.

He faces a carjacking charge.

“I commend the 2nd Precinct Officers who apprehended this suspect for carjacking a vehicle occupied by a mother and her two children. These officers were persistent in searching for the suspect,” Director Miranda said.

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