Police investigating kidnapping and home invasion

HOUSTON

Police say she was taken from a gas station on Tidwell and Fulton, and then driven to her home not far away on Bauman and Burbank.

The victim's car was taken to HPD's impound lot so investigators can dust it for fingerprints. Robbery was definitely the motive, but cops are trying to figure if this was more than just a random crime.

It started as a routine trip to a northeast Houston gas station, but suddenly turned dangerous for a young mother of three when two armed men abducted her at gunpoint.

"She walked inside the store. She got a bottle of water and then she paid for some gas," employee Ryan Ali said.

"They knew obviously where she lived," another witness said.

That's exactly where they took her. The woman is not only a relative of the victim. She's also a witness, so we're protecting her identity.

"I saw the guy face to face," said the witness. "He rolled down the window and he looked at me and he was as calm as calm can be -- calm as calm can be -- while the other two men were pistol whipping her inside."

The two armed men ransacked the home and eventually found what they were looking for -- a small amount of cash and some jewelry.

"I texted her, 'Are you OK' and she didn't respond," the woman said.

They left with the young woman in her car and drove to nearby Melrose Park.

"She saw a chance to escape and she ran for her life," the witness said. "I'm just glad that she's alive."

All the family wants now is justice.

"They have to pay for what they did because if they do this to us, they are gonna do this to many others," the witness said.

The woman wasn't injured in the incident.

Interestingly, the woman's house that was robbed had a surveillance system but the thieves stole it. The gas station where this all started has surveillance cameras but only inside the store.

So far, no arrests have been made.

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