New video shows suspect steal car at RSW with a child, mother inside

Reporter: Morgan Rynor
Published: Updated:
The moment the suspect carjacked the vehicle at RSW on Monday morning. (Credit: RSW)
The moment the suspect carjacked the vehicle at RSW on Monday morning. (Credit: RSW)

New video shows a suspect in a carjacking at Southwest Florida International Airport on Monday at the moment when he stole a vehicle with a child inside. The mom jumps back in the car to save the child while the grandfather hangs on for dear life.

The suspect, Addi Tawfiq Maqableh, 36, faces several charges. These charges include Aggravated battery (cause bodily harm or disability); Robbery (carjacking without a firearm or weapon); Kidnapping a minor (under 13 years of age); Kidnaping-false imprisonment; Larceny (grand theft, between $750 and $5k); and Vehicle theft (grand theft of motor vehicle).

Maqableh was a ticketed passenger on a United Airlines flight going to Houston. The Transportation Security Administration fully screened him before entering the concourse.

Mugshot of Addi Tawfiq Maqableh, 36. (Photo Credit: Lee County Sheriff’s Office)

Soon after, a restaurant worker noticed someone stole her purse. Egly Perez immediately noticed the theft and directly confronted the suspect. “You have my wallet,” Perez said to the suspect. She continued to demand her wallet, but he began to walk out of the concourse.

“I was behind him and screaming, ‘Call the police! Call the police! This man stole my wallet!'” Perez said.

All of a sudden, the suspect started to dash out of the concourse. It was captured on a security camera. Soon after, another security camera captures him as he jogs onto the departures ramp and moves toward a car.

The suspect jumps into the vehicle. Moments afterward, the car takes off with a mother and child inside while the dad is holding on for dear life. The dad falls off the car as it races away. We know the driver stopped to let the mother and child out before attempting to get away from the airport.

Now, Perez just hopes Maqableh does not make the $175,000 bond a judge set Tuesday morning.

“I don’t want him to get out and do more things and then be gone forever,” Perez said, “because you never know if they let him out.”

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