Two Texas children have been found after police initially thought they were kidnapped following a shooting, according to local reports.
The children, six-year-old Yaretzi Diaz and two-year-old Gael Diaz, have been reported as safe, CBS News Texas reported.
An AMBER alert was issued for their disappearance at 7a.m. on Sunday, according to San Antonio, Texas, news outlet MySA.com, after law enforcement responded to reports of a shooting and believed the children to have been abducted, according to the Wise County Messenger. The children were in fact found at a nearby home.
A suspect in the shooting was identified as 33-year-old Jose Luis Diaz Martinez by Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin, according to the outlet. The Sheriff reportedly said the children were found two hours after the shooting.
A pair of pink children’s sunglasses lies broken on a bench with graffiti smeared on it. Texas children have been found after it was believed they’d been kidnapped following a shooting.
Wolfram Steinberg/dpa via AP
A report was first made at around 4:50 a.m., according to CBS. The Sheriff said the call was made by a woman saying her estranged husband had entered the home and shot at a man.
The victim was airlifted to John Peter Smith hospital in Fort Worth, and Sheriff Akin said that his condition was “serious” but was unable to provide further update.
The AMBER alert was canceled when he children were found safe, and authorities no longer believe they were abducted.
A BOLO (be on the lookout) alert was sent out for a white 2007 Nissan pickup Diaz Martinez was believed to be driving, the Wise County Messenger reported.
The vehicle was reportedly stopped at around 8.15 a.m. by Texas Highway Patrol near Clarendon, around 250 miles away from Paradise, where the shooting was reported.
Martinez has reportedly been jailed in Donley County. The Messenger reported that the Wise County Sheriff’s Office and Texas Rangers continue to investigate.
According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, AMBER alerts are activated in the most serious child abduction cases, with the aim of instantly bringing the community together to assist in the search and recovery of the missing child.
An investigation by the center revealed that in 2023, 3,184 cases of missing child reports, either from that year or previous ones, were resolved, and 3,069 cases were reported to center.
The center also provided support for 49 AMBER alert cases initiated by Texas law enforcement in relation to 63 children.
Kidnapping does not often happen in conjunction with violent crime in the U.S. Sccording to Child Watch, less than 2 percent of violent crimes against children included kidnapping.
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