WATCH: Kidnapping attempt in broad daylight caught on camera
SPRAGUE, Wash. – A 15-year-old boy was arrested Wednesday in connection with the attempted kidnapping of a 22-month-old toddler that was caught on surveillance video in this small farming town in the state of Washington.
The teenage boy was identified through the use of surveillance video, interviews and evidence collection, Lincoln County Sheriff Wade Magers said.
The boy’s identity was being withheld because he is a juvenile, Magers said.
Detectives started focusing on the arrested suspect in the past 24 hours, Magers said.
One of the kidnap victim’s young siblings also positively identified the suspect, Magers said.
The 15-year-old was booked into a juvenile detention facility on suspicion of second-degree kidnapping, Magers said. The Lincoln County Prosecutor’s Office will make the formal charging decisions
Magers thanked the media for distributing pictures of the suspect and the public for providing tips.
Magers’ office said he was not available to talk with reporters on Wednesday afternoon.
The case drew wide attention when dramatic surveillance video footage showed a male running down a sidewalk with the toddler in his arms last Sunday.
The child’s two siblings screamed and chased him. The scene ended after two teenage boys joined the chase, and the man put down the toddler and fled. The toddler was not hurt.
The incident began after Michael Wright left his three children with a baby sitter in Sprague on Sunday while he went to work. The children – Brenden, 10, Delicia, 8, and the toddler – were playing unsupervised in a city park near the sitter’s house.
Sheriff’s deputies said the suspect talked with the children for a few minutes, then scooped the toddler out of his stroller and ran down the street. Surveillance video from a grocery store showed the kidnapper running, child in arms, with Delicia chasing and Brenden not far behind.
As the older boys approached, the kidnapper put the child down in a vacant lot and fled, the sheriff’s office said.
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