Detectives on Monday arrested the suspect who carjacked a woman and drove off with her 3-year-old child in the back seat in Oakland Park.
According to the Broward Sheriff’s Office Special Victims Unit, an anonymous tip led to the arrest of 35-year-old Willio Petioma.
The carjacking happened around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday at 850 W. Commercial Boulevard.
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BSO officials said the mother and 3-year-old daughter were involved in a crash with another vehicle and when the mother got out to exchange information with the other driver, a man got into her vehicle and drove away with the 3-year-old still inside.
The mother grabbed onto the vehicle's door and yelled at the man that the child was still inside but he drove away, dragging the mother until she fell to the ground.
NBC6 spoke with the mother by phone on Friday.
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"Out of nowhere this guy came inside the car and I grabbed onto the car and I was telling him 'my baby my baby!'" said the mother, who didn't want to be identified.
A dashcam video released by BSO Friday showed the carjacking suspect removing the child, who was still in her car seat and leaving her on a sidewalk.
Moments later, two people are seen approaching the child to help her.
"I was just scared, like, how things are right now everywhere in the world," said the mother. "I was just thinking maybe I wasn’t going to see her again or something and I was just scared, because she’s a little baby."
Another surveillance video shows the man later ditching the vehicle, while a third video showed him using the mother's credit card at a Family Dollar store.
The mother said her cat had also been inside the car at the time, since they were heading to a veterinarian, but she said the cat was found safe after the suspect ditched the car.
On Sunday, Petioma was taken into custody and booked into the BSO Main Jail.
He faces charges that include kidnapping, carjacking, interfering with custody of a minor and illegal use of a credit card.
He was also arrested on a Palm Beach County warrant for possession of cocaine and resisting an officer.
