Thief steals car in Warren with kids inside, later abandons it

A car theft became a kidnapping when a thief stole a car with juvenile passengers outside of a fast food restaurant in the 2400 Block of Parkman Road NW in Warren on Tuesday.

Warren Police Department officers were dispatched to the restaurant after a mother called police claiming that someone had gotten into her car and driven off with her two young children still inside.

According to the mother, she went inside the restaurant for about one to two minutes before she saw her car leaving the parking lot. 

The car was unlocked, still running and the keys were still in the ignition while the children were still inside the car.

Other Trumbull County officers from multiple police departments eventually located the vehicle abandoned roughly a mile down the road in the 2200 block of Stephens Avenue NW.

The children were found safe and unharmed in the vehicle according to the police report.

A witness at the scene who spoke to police says that he knew the individual who is suspected to have stolen the vehicle.

The witness said that the suspect rode up to the restaurant on a bike, and said that he was going to steal "that car", referencing the caller's vehicle.

The suspect abandoned the bike on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant. The bike was later seized by police for DNA testing, since the witness alleges that the suspect was not wearing gloves when he rode the bike.

At this time, there is no word yet on the identity of the suspect, and no arrests have been made in connection to this report.

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