KISSIMMEE, Fla. – A man who was being sought as a person of interest after a woman was kidnapped at gunpoint from a Target store in Kissimmee, forced to withdraw money from an ATM and then beaten, has been arrested, deputies said.
The kidnapping was reported at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday at 4795 West Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway in Kissimmee.
The Osceola County Sheriff's Office said it was looking for Gabriel Rene, 22, who has an active felony warrant for armed kidnapping and armed robbery in unrelated cases. Rene was apprehended in Kissimmee Friday afternoon, thanks in part to a Crimeline tip, Osceola County Sheriff's Office Captain Jacob Ruiz said.
“It’s a very unusual crime for our community, very violent and heinous crime," Ruiz said. "So we were working diligently as soon as we got this report to get that information out there to our businesses, to our community in that area. Our detectives were out all night passing out flyers and basically informing the public, so that fact that this came in from a Crimeline tip, that’s excellent work.”
Ruiz said Rene is a person of interest in the case at this point, not a suspect. Deputies arrested him on his active warrants and plan to question him about Wednesday's armed kidnapping, Ruiz said.
The Sheriff's Office said the woman was taken at gunpoint and ordered to drive to an ATM in the city. She was then forced to drive around for several hours so the man could find other victims, deputies said.
The man told the woman to drive back to Target, where he beat her, deputies said. She suffered facial injuries, Ruiz said. She has been cooperative with the investigation and provided deputies with pertinent details about the crime.
It's not known if the man stole any money from the woman.
The assailant was described as having a medium complexion, about 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighing 140 pounds with brown or hazel eyes. He was wearing black pants, a black sweater, black and green boots, a black mask with a leaf pattern, a black hat with a "B" logo and dark sunglasses.
CRIMELINE will issue a REWARD of up to $1000 for ANY information which leads to an arrest. Refer to the flyer for further information! pic.twitter.com/qgQsgU1xbK
— Osceola Sheriff (@OsceolaSheriff) April 14, 2017
Deputies said one of Rene's active warrants was in connection with a two carjackings near Osceola Regional Medical Center in mid-March. In that case, deputies said Rene carjacked a woman and forced her to drive around. demanding money.
When the victim told him she didn't have any money, he fled from the vehicle and carjacked a second woman and forced her to drive around the area, the report said.
Charges on 14 pages of warrants from three separate incidents include four counts of kidnapping, four counts of armed robbery and two counts of false imprisonment.
Target issued a statement Friday afternoon about the incident at its Kissimmee store.
"At Target, our guests are at the center of everything we do and our commitment to creating a safe and secure shopping environment in our stores is unwavering. As part of this commitment to safety, we have robust procedures, policies and trainings in place to ensure that our stores are safe places to shop and work.
"As soon as we were made aware of this incident, we partnered with local law enforcement, and have shared all relevant video footage directly with them. As this is an active investigation, please contact law enforcement with further questions.
"Our thoughts go out to the victim."
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