Woman describes fight to protect children from carjackers

Angie Padron fought off would-be carjackers at Tom Thumb in Hialeah

HIALEAH, Fla. – A mother who fought off a pair of armed carjackers in Hialeah spoke publicly for the first time, saying she was trying to protect her children.

"I didn't even think about the guns. I didn't think about what they were going to do to me or what they could have done to me," Angie Padron said in an interview on "Good Morning America." "I just thought about getting the kids out."

Padron was traveling to Miami with her 1-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son on Jan. 18 when she stopped to get gas at a Tom Thumb at 77 W. Okeechobee Road. While pumping gas, an armed man ran toward her as another ran for the driver's side door.

"I was yelling at him, 'My kids are in the car. Don't get in the car,'" she said. 

When yelling didn't work, she said she went after one of the men with her bare hands, ripping off one man's mask. She's seen on surveillance cameras pulling the man out of her car, which caused both suspects to take off running.

Padron adjusts her blouse and calmly walks to her car. She told ABC News that her instincts kicked in. 

It didn't take long for police to spot those involved. Juan Carlos Gonzalez, Nicholas Rosado and the accused getaway driver, Rebecca Utria, were caught and arrested nearby a short time later. 

Police said the trio tried to carjack a woman on the other side of the pump seconds prior, but she successfully managed to lock herself in her vehicle.


About the Authors:

Andrew Perez is a South Florida native who joined the Local 10 News team in May 2014.