Neighbors in fear as video shows woman getting pistol-whipped and dragged into car in LA street
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Harrowing footage captured on security camera showed a woman getting pistol-whipped at a Los Angeles residential area before being shoved into a vehicle in broad daylight on Tuesday, April 25. The video showed an unidentified man with a handgun pulling up in a silver Kia Rio before grabbing and injuring the woman, who is also yet to be identified.
The man could later be seen dragging the woman and forcing her into the vehicle’s passenger seat before taking off down the street and heading east. The incident occurred on Couts Avenue in Commerce, a city located southeast of central Los Angeles, in a neighborhood with two schools around 4.20 pm. Officials called the incident a kidnapping, the Daily Mail reported. Both the suspect and victim were later located by officials.
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Footage shows the woman hiding
In the video captured by a home security camera, the unnamed woman can be seen running and possibly hiding from someone while talking over the phone. At one point, she is seen walking up a home’s driveway and hiding behind the gate. Shortly after, a Kia pulls up and the abductor emerges.
The woman is then spotted walking toward the passenger side of the vehicle before being slammed over the head with a gun the man was holding. The latter then pushes her inside the car, looking around and driving off the street. Officials have said that the woman was last seen wearing a black dress and sandals, with dark brown or red hair, the Daily Mail reported. Meanwhile, the man was wearing a white tank top, black shorts, and black-and-white shoes. Law enforcement officials began an immediate search for the woman, the man, and the vehicle.
‘We're really worried’
The incident took place just outside a home in the 2200 block of Couts Avenue and left neighbors in jitters. “We're really worried,” neighbor Sally Alvarez told KTLA. “This family that it happened to, they're really good,” she added, seemingly mentioning the family who lives in the house that witnessed the kidnapping.
Alvarez mentioned that she and other neighbors on the street have never seen the woman before the incident and does not know anything about her. “We've never seen this young lady before so we don't know if she's a local or if she's running from someone. The way she was dressed, it's just very uncommon here,” she stated.
The woman reportedly remained missing for more than 20 hours but authorities confirmed to KTLA that she was located just before 7 pm on Wednesday, April 26. Her condition remains unknown at the time of writing. The man was also arrested and taken into custody on suspicion of kidnapping or abduction, the publication noted.