SAN JOSE
– A 21-year-old Gilroy man attacked and tried to kidnap a woman
and her 11-month-old daughter at knifepoint in a mall parking
garage Wednesday night, according to San Jose police.
SAN JOSE – A 21-year-old Gilroy man attacked and tried to kidnap a woman and her 11-month-old daughter at knifepoint in a mall parking garage Wednesday night, according to San Jose police.
If the victim hadn’t screamed for help, Derrick Ashton Smith might have gone through with it, police said.
Apparently scared of getting caught, however, Smith fled across the highway to the upscale Santana Row shopping district, where security guards spotted him about an hour later and police arrested him.
Smith, a Gilroy resident, was booked into county jail on felony charges of kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon and assault with intent to commit rape.
The alleged victim had just left the Westfield (Valley Fair) Shopping Center at about 7:20 p.m. Wednesday and was strapping her daughter into her car seat when Smith approached and shoved her from behind into the vehicle, according to police.
