A woman was charged Tuesday afternoon with attempted kidnapping and battery after she allegedly tried, unsuccessfully, to abduct a 4-year-old boy from his mother on the street in the 23000 block of Via Canon in Santa Clarita, a spokesman for the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station said.
Lt. Rob Hahnlein said the suspect – identified as Alicia Sanchez, 44, believed to be a transient – approached the boy and his mother on the street around 2 p.m.
Hahnlein said Sanchez yelled, “You’re not his mother,” hit the woman and threatened to kill her – all the while, grabbing the child while spraying the mother with water from a water bottle.
But the mother never let go of her son, and Sanchez eventually fled into the nearby wash, Hahnlein said.
Police were called, and Sheriff’s deputies arrested Sanchez at 2:26 p.m., their guns drawn. No weapons were found.
The mother and boy were not harmed, Hahnlein said.
No motive was immediately known, but Hahnlein said Sanchez might be “mentally challenged,” and on medication.
Sanchez also faces a criminal-threats charge. She was being transferred to the women’s jail in downtown L.A.
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