Attempted carjacking with kids in vehicle stopped by father, Long Island smoke shop owner
A frantic father and a smoke shop owner stopped a would-be carjacker from driving away with two children on Long Island.
The incident was caught on surveillance video Tuesday afternoon.
The father parked outside Bougatfa Zero, a candy and smoke shop in Brentwood, and went into the store, leaving the car running with his two children, ages 5 and 6, inside.
A would-be thief instantly seized the opportunity. Surveillance video shows the suspect approach the vehicle, open the driver's side door and get behind the wheel.
Before he can drive away, the father rushes out of the store and opens the driver's side door.
"The father, he was calling, 'Help, help,'" shop owner Omar Shahbain said. "He was calling, like, everyone, anybody to help him."
Shahbain said the father tried to yank the man out of the vehicle while his kids were crying inside, but the suspect refused to budge.
Video shows Shahbain open the front passenger's side door and lean into the vehicle. He said he managed to put the car in park.
"He was stepping on gas. He wants to run with the car ... with the kids, with everyone," he said.
Shahbain then opened one of the rear doors and got the kids out of the vehicle while the father continued to struggle with the suspect.
Eventually, Suffolk County Police officers arrived and got the suspect out of the vehicle. They arrested 23-year-old Mustafa Attia, of Ronkonkoma.
Customers weighed in on the frightening close call.
"I just would never do that. Some things you just don't do in case of situations like that," Brentwood resident Lakea Staton said. "But it's, like, here? It's a smoke shop. It's like, literally you can park here, in and out."
"I just don't get, how can parents do that? Like, that me? I put gas and I lock my kids [in], like, even just to get out of the car," customer Ana Mejia said.
Attia pleaded not guilty to attempted grand larceny, endangering the welfare of a child, and possession of a controlled substance.
