The incident is proof of how fast a carjacking can occur. The boy's father was helping the child's mother park her car when another vehicle pulled alongside, and the carjackers made their move.
It happened in seconds. A Silverado pick-up truck was swiped with a sleeping baby in the backseat. The parents tried to give chase in another car but were quickly cut-off by the carjackers' accomplice.
The father, Rigoberto Guerrero, says he guesses the thieves had no idea there was a baby on board. His feared when the carjackers discovered 6-month-old Luis, they would hurt him.
"It was the worst feeling," he said.
Police were on the scene in minutes and quickly began to scour the neighborhood.
"I felt desperate. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know where to go. I didn't know if I was going to be able to find him," mother Nancy Zavala said through a translator.
Approximately 45 minutes later, just before 3 a.m. Saturday, police found the pick-up truck a few blocks from where it was stolen. I the backseat was baby Luis, still strapped in to his car seat, seemingly oblivious to the ordeal.
"I supposed the thieves saw the baby," Rigoberto Guerrero said. "That's why they stopped what they were doing and abandoned the car, and I'm grateful for that."
"I was actually able to see my baby. It felt like the weight was taken off my shoulders," Zavala said.
Police say they continue to search for the three people believed to have been involved in the carjacking. No one was in custody Saturday evening.
