Former Super Bowl champion Montana thwarts kidnapping attempt on grandchild

[September 28, 2020]    (Reuters) - Four-time Super Bowl champion Joe Montana and his wife thwarted a kidnapping attempt over the weekend when a woman entered their house in Malibu, California and grabbed their grandchild, local police said.

Former Superbowl champion quarterback Joe Montana, who played for the National Football League's San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs, poses during an interview in Toronto, Ontario, Canada January 22, 2019. REUTERS/Chris Helgren

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said Montana flagged down a patrol on Saturday to report that the stranger fled the house without his grandchild when she was confronted.

"Mr Montana told (deputies) their nine-month-old grandchild was sleeping in the playpen when an unknown female entered the residence and removed the child from the playpen and held it in her arms," the sheriff's department said in a statement.

The police said that the 64-year-old and his wife, Jennifer, 62, confronted the woman and pried their grandchild from the woman's arms, at which point she fled, adding that the woman was in custody.

No one was injured in the incident.

"Thank you to everyone who has reached out," Montana, an NFL Hall of Fame inductee, posted on Twitter. "Scary situation, but thankful that everybody is doing well. We appreciate respect for our privacy at this time."

(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

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