Amber Alert Turns into Hostage Standoff in New Jersey (moved from ATSNN)

An Amber Alert was issued earlier today in New Jersey for Jada Saunders, a four-month infant girl, and mother, Erika Turner, taken by the father, Almutah Saunders. Police have now tracked the suspect and have him surrounded; he is threatening to kill the hostages and himself. Saunders was wanted by the police for a prior attempted kidnapping of Turner.



This is a nightmare situation. As it is breaking news and the story is developing, I'll update as new information becomes available.


[edit on 4/11/2005 by djohnsto77]

According to this story both the mother, and the father are involved in the abduction of the child.

An Amber Alert was issued shortly before 10 a.m. for Jada Saunders, age 4 months.


She was taken by her father, Almutah Saunders, along with her mother, Erika Turner, according to the alert.

Hmm, I guess the details of what happened are still very sketchy.

Edit:

Actually I think that's just confusing writing, I think it means the girl was taken along with her mother by her father.

[edit on 4/11/2005 by djohnsto77]

Why do they call it an Amber Alert, I thought the color codes are for Terrorists?
It strikes me that these sort of thing happen fairly often so why use a color code?
I don't understand

An Amber Alert is an alert for a missing child. It's named after a girl named Amber who was kidnapped and killed in Texas.

AMBER (America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) is a notification program to help locate missing children believed to have been abducted. The Emergency Alert System (formerly known as the Emergency Broadcast System) is used to alert the public via television and radio in the event of an AMBER Alert.

The AMBER Alert System was created as a legacy to 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was kidnapped while riding her bicycle in Arlington, Texas. In addition to Texas, 45 other states and numerous localities have since set up their own AMBER plans as the idea was adopted across the United States.

From: www.sexcriminals.com...

[edit on 4/11/2005 by djohnsto77]

I have been watching the news unfold on TV, the man is still holding the girlfriend and child in the car.

I hope everything comes out right.

I, uh, "know people" who work for a company that controls the amber alert system in my part of the country. Anyways, the Amber Alert System is named for a child named Amber, not for a colour.

Zip

I'm in New Jersey and was listening to the radio this morning while hanging some paper border when this alert came interupted the radio like an emergency weather bulletin.

I was quite impressed as I have never heard one of these over the radio but have seen them on the cable news channels.

Anybody hear the outcome yet?

djohnsto77:
An Amber Alert is an alert for a missing child. It's named after a girl named Amber who was kidnapped and killed in Texas.

djohnsto77 & Zipdot

thank you both for explaining the Amber Alert, I understand now as I’m sure others not from the US will too.

Police report that Saunders allowed the girl and her mother to leave. He's still armed and remains held up in the car.

This happened behind my house and I wasn't allowed to leave school until the situation was over. Well, my bus refused to drive me to my house. I had a friend pick me up from school and we went home. Just helicopters over my house, I couldn't actually see the man and the car. But I heard it all.

I'm glad the baby is safe.