GARDEN GROVE : Girl Reunited With Mother After Being Taken by Carjacker

A woman who tried to fight off a carjacker watched in horror Monday night as the man sped off in her car with her 4-year-old daughter still strapped in the passenger seat.

Sharye Kim, 37, of Garden Grove spent an anxious half-hour parted from her daughter before the child was located several blocks away in a residential area, where the carjacker had released her.

Police on Tuesday were still searching for the carjacker, an Asian man aged 20 to 23, about 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighing about 150 pounds, who drove off in Kim’s 1995 black Mercedes-Benz.

Kim recounted her horror Tuesday while feeding noodles to daughter Sarah. The two had just left a gift shop about 8:50 p.m. Monday and Kim had strapped Sarah in the seat when the man accosted her, she said.

“He was pointing the gun at my head. But I don’t think he was trying to kill me. He could have,” she said.

The carjacker fired one round into the pavement as a warning, police Lt. John Woods said.

Said Kim: “He grabbed the keys from my hand and pushed me from the car. I think I fell down. I said, ‘My baby, my baby,’ that’s all I could say. I couldn’t think of anything else. I thought my baby was going to die. When he backed up, I saw her looking out the window at me and crying.”

Despite Kim’s struggles, the man sped off with Sarah. But he released the girl a few blocks away. A resident called police after the child knocked at a door.

“It was a miracle because he had a gun. What if he had killed my baby?” Kim said. “All I need is my baby. I can buy the car again,” Kim said. The car was two weeks old and still had paper license plates.