New Britain

Police ID Suspect in Carjacking of Car With Young Children Inside in New Britain

Police have been working to identify the carjackers who stole a car with a 3-year-old and a 7-year-old inside from a gas station in New Britain in May and said they identified a suspect and he’s in prison on unrelated charges.

Police responded to the Citgo gas station in the 300 block of Columbus Boulevard at 5:07 p.m. Sunday, May 20 after carjackers pushed a grandmother as she was pumping gas and fled in the car that her 7-year-old and a 3-year-old grandchildren were still in, police said.

The grandmother went into the store and asked a clerk to call.

A resident who saw a group of males drop off the children and push them to the sidewalk also called police and stood with the children until police arrived, police said. The two children were found on Cliff Street in New Britain, police said.

The vehicle was later found abandoned in Hartford.

Police have identified 18-year-old Manuel Vellon, of Hartford, as one suspect and said they have a warrant charging him with second-degree kidnapping, risk of injury to a child, robbery by carjacking, assault in the third degree, conspiracy to commit robbery by carjacking, larceny in the second degree, conspiracy to commit larceny in the second degree, reckless driving, failure to drive upon right and operating a motor vehicle without a license.

Vellon is incarcerated on an unrelated charge and has been linked to other stolen cars in the city, police said.

Police said they expect to make more arrests.

The New Britain Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division is handling the investigation and witnesses are asked to call Sergeant John Blackmore at (860) 826-3171.

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