Los Angeles police said they have arrested and charged a woman with kidnapping after she grabbed several children at a Koreatown park.
Authorities said Yara Vanessa Pineda, 27, was taken into custody after officers chased down and Tased the suspect after she ran from Seoul International Park.
Witnesses told police that Ms. Pineda walked up to and grabbed several children at the park until their parents confronted the woman. LAPD said the suspect was also fighting with parents.
“There was a crazy lady running around and she was picking up little kids and the kids were running from her,” a boy named Anwar told local TV station KTLA. “They got scared. She was catching them and running away with them. She asked me for candy and I said, ‘No!’ and I ran away.”
The boy told the news station his sister was one of the children picked up by the woman.
This week’s case isn’t Ms. Pineda’s first arrest on kidnapping charges.
Police said the woman was nabbed in February on charges of grabbing a four-year-old boy from behind and taking him out of a Target.
The boy was only let go once his parents went after the woman.
It’s unclear whether she was convicted in that case.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.