7-year-old kidnapped in Easter Sunday standoff

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ROTONDA WEST, Fla. – Residents woke up to an Easter Sunday standoff as deputies tried to rescue a 7-year-old boy who was being held prisoner, according to the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office.

“I got ready to go to church and come out and there was all kinds of police cars around here,” Joe Williams of Rotonda West said. “I asked an officer what was going on and he said that they was chasing somebody.”

Investigators were looking for Robert Parker, Jr. who they said is a known criminal. Authorities tried to pull Parker over for driving a motorcycle without a valid drivers license, but he sped away after 2:30 a.m., deputies said.

When deputies arrived at Parker’s home on Annapolis Lane he ran inside, records show. A deputy and his K-9 partner, Loki, followed behind Parker and a woman, Jennifer McCann, according to the sheriff’s office. McCann slammed a door on the dog, injuring him in the process, a deputy said.

Deputies spent 30 minutes trying to coerce Parker and McCann to come out, according to reports. The two of them had built a barricade that only allowed the room door to be pried open two inches, the sheriff’s office said.

“They were knocking on the door trying to get them out and they would not come out,” a neighbor, Gary Shaffer said.

Thirty minutes into the standoff, a man came out of the house and told deputies he feared for the safety of his 7-year-old nephew. The man told deputies he tried to get the boy out of the room, but could not get past the barricade.

Inside the room, Parker and McCann were hiding inside a closet with the child, according to Charlotte County reports.

Deputies eventually resorted to ramming the door open, neighbors said.

“They were in there for about an hour then all of a sudden about eight of them go in and ‘Boom!’ You could hear the door slam in, kind of like kicking it in and then all of a sudden they brought the little boy out,” Shaffer said.

Parker and McCann were arrested and face a list of charges for kidnapping, false imprisonment of a child, driving with a suspended license and drug trafficking and possession.

The child is fine and has been placed with family, according to arrest records.

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