Hero Mom Describes How She Chased Off Would-Be Carjackers at Gas Station
Angie Padron scared off two would-be carjackers.
— -- A mom who tackled two carjackers last week told ABC News she didn’t even consider “what they could have done” to her.
Angie Padron had stopped to fill up her car at Tom Thumb service station in Hialeah, Florida, when an armed carjacker jumped into the driver’s seat of her convertible and another banged on the window.
“I was yelling at him, ‘My kids are in the car. Don’t get in the car.’ ... And he got in anyway,” Padron said.
The mother of a 1-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy was travelling to Miami with her kids when police say two men -- Juan Carlos Gonzalez and Nicholas Rosado -- tried to carjack her.
“I was just thinking he was gonna take it and the kids are in there," Padron said.
A security camera at the gas station captured the scene unfolding, Padron sprints around to the driver’s door, diving into the car after one of the men, pulling him out of the vehicle and stripping off his mask. The two would-be carjackers are then seen running off camera -- allegedly fleeing the scene in a getaway car.
“I didn’t even think about guns or what they could have done to me. ... I just thought about getting the kids out," Padron said.
Padron’s son, Evan, watched the whole thing from the backseat.
“My mom was yelling at him, saying, 'Get out of the car, get out of the car, get out of the car, right now,'” Evan recalled.
The suspects were spotted by police less than a mile away from the gas station, and authorities arrested the two men and their alleged getaway driver -- identified by police as Rebecca Utria.
The trio are now facing charges for attempted armed carjacking and eluding police, according to Hialeah Police Department.
Juan Carlos Gonzalez, 17, was determined to be a minor and is no longer being held at the county jail.
The other two suspects remain behind bars on $25,000 bond.