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Brief Amber Alert ends in arrest

A 35-year-old man is in custody following an alleged parental abduction in South Surrey Tuesday night.
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Police investigating an alleged parental abduction Tuesday night escort a young boy to a waiting vehicle.

A 35-year-old man is in custody following an alleged parental abduction in South Surrey Tuesday night.

The suspect was arrested near 156 Street and King George Boulevard around 11:30 p.m., nearly two hours after an Amber Alert was issued for a four-year-old boy.

Police say they were first alerted to the situation around 8 p.m., when they were called to the 1500-block of King George Boulevard.

Upon arrival, officers determined there had been a dispute, an alleged assault of a woman and the alleged abduction of her child.

Police say they issued an Amber Alert around 9:40 p.m., however, not all media – including Peace Arch News – received it, a situation Sgt. Peter Thiessen said was likely related to the process of “cycling through” the alert.

The Amber Alert was deactivated after the boy was found in a car that had been spotted southbound on King George Boulevard.

While the original alert reportedly identified the abduction suspect as the boy’s father, Thiessen would not confirm whether that is who was arrested.

“At this point, we’re not in a position to confirm that. We’ve advised we’ve arrested an individual in the company of that boy.”

Charges are pending.

Asked how Peace Arch News was notified at 12:45 a.m. Wednesday that the Amber Alert was cancelled, but not notified of the original alert (PAN’s office is located just four blocks from where the suspect was arrested and approximately 3½ kilometres from where the boy was taken), Thiessen explained that if a news outlet hadn’t received the alert before it was cancelled, it likely wouldn’t receive it at all.

“While it’s cycling through, we cancelled it,” said. “It’s quite a process to get it cycled through.”

The incident was the 11th Amber Alert since the program launched in B.C. in 2004.

 



Tracy Holmes

About the Author: Tracy Holmes

Tracy Holmes has been a reporter with Peace Arch News since 1997.
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