'You can never be too safe:' Thieves try to steal car as Washington mom walks her son into daycare

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. - A pair of thieves were caught on camera breaking into a young mother's car as she dropped her son off at a Washington daycare.

Yesica, who only wanted to be identified by first name, tried to scare them off by banging on the hood of her car. The thieves took some of her belongings, but her car wasn't one of them.

"It was extremely scary, it was stressful," Yesica said. "I couldn't sleep. I just kept imagining all these what ifs."

Returning to her daily routine has become a nightmare for Yesica. ‘What if’ situations that she can’t seem to block out.

"What if something happens while I'm carrying my child and he's sleeping? I have no way to fight these people," Yesica said.

She and her three-year-old son’s life, forever impacted.

"I get in my vehicle and I try to go after them but I lost them," Yesica said.

The 30-year-old mother chased after the two men who tried to steal her car, as she dropped off her son at daycare Friday morning in Federal Way. Surveillance cameras capture the moment she takes him out of the back seat; the car still running as she carries him inside any lays him down.

"That’s when the daycare lady she tells me ‘Hey there’s someone stealing your car!’" Yesica said.

Still processing, the mother hesitates until she sees two men sitting in her car. She rushes outside and bangs on the hood of her car screaming for the thieves to get out of her car. Realizing what’s happening, Yesica runs back inside fearful of what could happen.

"For a second I just thought, I'm going to try to fight them, but then I realized it was two guys," Yesica said. "Something just told me go back inside." 

She says the two men were masked.

"I was afraid because I don't know if they have a gun, I don't know if they have a knife," Yesica said.

Featured

article

Study: Washington has 2nd-highest rate of car theft in U.S.

Washington has the second-highest rate of car thefts in the U.S., according to a study by the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

Childcare workers immediately call 911, but the thieves don’t speed off – Yesica had her key fob in her pocket – preventing them from taking her car. However, they did run off with her backpack and wallet before jumping in another car and speeding off. Forty minutes later she got a notification that someone tried to run her credit card for $600. By then she had already locked them and called her bank reporting her cards stolen.

"They were definitely like staking out the place," Yesica said.

A fact, she’s most certain about as the road to her son’s daycare is a dead end – tiny street, with a handful of homes. She says she looked around when she pulled up and didn't see anyone. After taking a closer look at the video she says she saw the thieves walking up to her car from the end of the street. Cameras recorded them driving past the daycare around 5:10 a.m. Yesica says another parent dropped their child off, but it was a quick in-and-out.

"It's never it's never going to be the same again, unfortunately." Yesica said.

She says the men robbed them of their peace.

"I got too comfortable," Yesica said. "Out of all places daycare, and it's just a very scary thing to think about." She never imagined leaving her car unattended while she was just feet away would lead to a situation like this. "Anything can happen, just like it happened to me, very unexpectedly," Yesica said.

While the daycare has already added more security cameras, Yesica hopes this incident is a lesson for every parent.

"Take those precautions, even if you think that it's going to take a second turn your car off and lock your car because you can never be too safe," Yesica said.

Federal Way Police are currently investigating this incident.