A Maryland man was arrested over the weekend after allegedly abducting two young children from their home.
Heroically, the childrens’ father was the one who first followed the man in question, leading police on a pursuit of the alleged abductor before officers were able to capture him and rescue the kids.
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According to media reports about the incident, Christopher Wade Shultz (pictured above, mugshot) is facing two counts of abduction of children under 12, two counts of kidnapping of children under 16, two counts of false imprisonment, and one count each of home invasion, third-degree burglary, trespassing on posted property, and second-degree assault.
The 40-year-old man was arrested by cops in Maryland after Frederick County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to an “abduction in progress” call at 3:45 p.m. local time on Saturday afternoon.
According to Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Todd Wivell, who spoke to People about the incident, Shultz allegedly came to the family’s home several times during the day on Saturday prior to the awful alleged incident.
Wivell explained the situation, saying that the man forced his way into the home at one point, and took the two children — ages 2 and 6 — after allegedly committing a physical assault against the father (below):
“[Shultz] knocked on the door and asked to speak to someone who wasn’t there. The father said, ‘no this person is not there.’ He came back a second time, knocked on the door, and the father answered. He had a dog with him now. He made entry into the house, assaulted the father. He then went into the home. He took the children and went and got into his vehicle and left.”
OMG!
So horrifying. And so brazen!
Thankfully, the kids’ father thought quickly and acted wisely in tracking the man. As the father was following the alleged suspect, he called police, and told dispatchers that the assailant “had just forcefully removed the children from his residence.”
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Police arrived on scene immediately, and pursued Shultz into a nearby business parking lot, where he parked the car. The man reportedly failed to obey police commands, as deputies approached the vehicle and were allegedly able to see at least one of the abducted children in the back seat.
Wivell explained further:
“When the deputies approached Shultz, he failed to obey their commands and got out and opened the backdoor of his vehicle, deploying a Rottweiler dog and holding it by his side. So then other deputies responded as backup and they were able to get Shultz to calm down and able to take him into custody without incident.”
Thank goodness.
Shultz apparently had been “staying on the same farmland property” as the father and his children, the police now say, but they have determined he “had no relation or rights to the children.”
Thankfully, Shultz has since been booked into the Frederick County Adult Detention Center.
We just hope those two children can recover mentally and psychologically from this awful, awful incident. So grateful their father acted so quickly to track this man and lead police to the scene!
[Image via Frederick County Sheriff’s Office]
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