CHAMBLEE, Ga. (AP) — A couple accused of kidnapping a 1-year-old boy at gunpoint from a stroller near Atlanta “intended to raise” the baby as their own and had tried to abduct a separate child earlier that day, authorities said.
Maynor Dario Valera-Zuniga and Kristin Nicole Valera-Zuniga confronted Leslie Barrera as she was out with her son Mateo Alejandro Montufar-Barrera on Saturday afternoon, Chamblee police said.
Maynor Dario Valera-Zuniga pulled a gun on Barrera and the two managed to wrestle the boy away from her, even after “she fought them tooth and nail,” Assistant Police Chief Mike Beller said at a news conference Monday.
“She took his gun and tried to shoot him with it,” Beller said. “She tore his shorts and took his shoe.”
The boy was found unharmed about 60 miles (97 kilometers) away in Carroll County and returned home.