Police: Armed man kidnapped juvenile from grocery store

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) – Several people saw a child in danger and put their safety at risk to help the child. An armed man took a juvenile against his will from a Louisville Kroger, according to Louisville Metro police.

Fabao Chen, 58, was at the Kroger located at 2710 W. Broadway around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday when he took the juvenile, according to an arrest slip.

Witnesses saw what was happening and tried to intervene. Police said Chen pulled a gun out of his pants and pointed it at the people who tried to stop him and then held the gun to the juvenile’s head.

“The kid was crying and he was very scared that’s what made me get involved,” Jenkins said. “I went to him and said ‘that is my nephew what has he done? I’ll pay for it. Has he stolen anything?’ He (Chen) says ‘you dont’ know, you don’t know.’”

Chen then took the juvenile to Double Dragon, located at 2600 W. Broadway. Police said a large crowd gathered and attempted to make Chen release the juvenile and he pointed a gun at the crowd.

Jenkins recorded the chaos inside the restaurant as he was trying to plead with Chen to let the child go. Several witnesses also tried to help. In the entire video, Chen is holding on to the child's arm.

The child kept saying he didn’t do anything.

Police were able to take Chen into custody. No additional information about the juvenile has been released. The child’s mother told WAVE 3 News that her son was okay and is 13-years-old.

Chen, who was booked into Louisville Metro Department of Corrections and charged with kidnapping and wanton endangerment, appeared in court on Wednesday morning. He does not speak English and a Mandarin interpreter was used to communicate with Chen. Despite being told that he should not talk about the case several times, he told the judge that he owned the Double Dragon. Chen said that the child broke a bottle inside his business.

In surveillance video obtained by WAVE 3 News from a nearby business, you can see Chen holding the child's arm and taking him to Double Dragon.

Chen told the judge that he has had his business for more than 10 years and understood the law. Chen's bond is at $250,000 full cash, he will be back in court June 17.

It was clear that Chen did not understand the severity of the charges against him. Police say the gun Chen had was a BB gun, Jenkins says he couldn't tell.

"Definitely looked like a real gun," Jenkins said. "But, I wasn't going to take the time to find out if it was or wasn't just get it off the kid i don't want to be shot either but, don't shoot the kid."

Double Dragon was closed on Wednesday.

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