Justin Junius Carter
Police say a Las Vegas man kidnapped a woman and her three children, according to The Las Vegas Review Journal. The mother, who was publicly unidentified, managed to get this on law enforcement radar by secretly calling 911 while in the car with defendant Justin Junius Carter, 34, police claim.
Carter allegedly tried to stab the woman in Las Vegas. Then he kidnapped her and her three children at knifepoint, police claimed. According to officers, the woman called 911 just after midnight on Monday in a moving car. She was able to briefly tell the Mesquite Police Department she was in danger.
Mesquite Township is northeast of Las Vegas.
The woman left the line open, according to officers in a KVVU report. She hoped dispatchers would figure out the situation based on what she was saying without her speaking directly to them, and that in the meantime, she could keep Carter in the dark about what she was doing, cops said. Dispatcher indeed figured it out, according to the police version of events. They said they pulled over the car on I-15. Carter was allegedly driving. The woman and her three children were inside the vehicle, officers said.
“The bravery of this woman and her children cannot be overstated,” Mesquite Police Chief MaQuade Chesley said in a statement, according to the Review. “They maintained their composure, and she bravely created a plan in her head to call for help as soon as she could.”
She also credited dispatchers.
“I am grateful the dispatchers and officers working that night were ready to jump into action without hesitation to find and rescue these victims from such a terrifying experience,” Chesley said, according to KVVU. “Their swift action and persistence to gather information from the 911 call saved this family from further harm.”
Carter reportedly pleaded guilty in 2012 to assault with a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm at an occupied structure or vehicle. He was sentenced to probation for a max of five years.
He is now charged with one count of first-degree kidnapping with a deadly weapon enhancement, three counts of second-degree kidnapping with a deadly weapon enhancement, and one count of domestic battery.
[Booking photo via Mesquite Police Department]
