Mystery of couple kidnapped in front of their 5 children

A Texas couple was kidnapped at gunpoint from their home while their five children were inside, according to police.

San Antonio police were alerted to a report of a home invasion at the 3100 block of Mission Bell Street, in the southwest part of the city, just after 6 a.m. on Wednesday, September 6.

Officers said two men arrived uninvited at the family home and took the two adults away, according to ABC13.

The couple were described as a man and a woman in their late 30s and they were taken against their will and put into a white sport utility vehicle.

It is unclear where the people believed to have abducted the couple took them following the incident.

Authorities have not released the identities of the kidnap victims or a description of their kidnappers. Police are unsure of the motive behind the kidnapping and said that the children who were inside the home were not injured during the incident.

According to ABC13, San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) officer Ricardo Guzman said: “The suspects kicked down the door, entered the home, took the two adults and fled the scene.”

He later added: “We located five juveniles inside the house. No injuries were reported and they were unharmed.”

There were 59 kidnapping and abduction offenses recorded between January and July this year, according to San Antonio police statistics.

It represents a slight increase in the same time period in 2022, where there were 56 recorded kidnapping and abduction cases.

In 2022, 546,568 new missing persons reports were entered into the National Crime Information Center for the state and of these, 205,995 were aged 18 or older, according to the Texas Center for the Missing.

Investigators are hoping surveillance footage in the area could reveal more about what happened during the kidnapping.

Officers have questioned several people, including the children—all of whom are said to be below the age of 17.

While police said they hope to find the parents and bring them home safely, they have little information about the kidnapping at this time.

The Texas Center for the Missing said while law enforcement “work tirelessly to serve our communities,” the “overwhelming numbers” make the task of finding people challenging.

It added that the two largest agencies in the state worked on 11,000 missing persons cases with just 15 investigators.

Kidnapping is a relatively rare crime in San Antonio, where 90,334 and 90,433 offenses were recorded between January and July in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

Newsweek has contacted the SAPD for comment via email.