By Khalida Sarwari
An 11-year-old girl who was kidnapped at gunpoint from a home in San Jose was found safe this afternoon and police shot and killed the man who kidnapped her early this morning.
Taylor Vo was safely located at about 12:15 p.m. in the 3400 block of Pistachio Drive, police Sgt. Jason Dwyer said.
That’s where SWAT officers tracked her captor, 42-year-old Tri Truong Le, the man who police said abducted Taylor from a home in the 2600 block of Taffy Drive. She is the daughter of Le’s ex-girlfriend.
A confrontation occurred between officers and Le at the apartment complex, Dwyer said. He said Le stood at a bedroom window with an arm around Taylor and began firing at the officers as they approached.
“At this point they believed that the hostage’s life was in clear and imminent danger and they decided to force entry into the residence and rescue the hostage,” Dwyer said.
Police forced entry into the residence and Le continued to shoot at the officers while holding Taylor hostage.
An officer returned fire and fatally struck Le.
“It was a very difficult problem for the SWAT officers to solve, because anytime that you have an innocent person between the suspect and the officers… we have to be factoring in the safety of the hostage,” said Dwyer.
Taylor was taken to a hospital, but was not harmed, Dwyer said.
He said it is not yet known how the two locations are connected and where Le took Taylor overnight.
He said police are investigating the motive behind the kidnapping.
A statewide Amber Alert issued after the abduction was canceled once Taylor was found safe.
At about 1:20 a.m. today, Le forced his way into the residence and assaulted a family member before firing several shots inside the home, police said.
No one inside the house was struck by the gunfire, police said.
Le then went into Taylor’s bedroom and took her from the home at gunpoint, police said.
Police said Le’s criminal history included domestic violence and driving under the influence.
“Today’s events really underscore the dangers of police work,” Dwyer said. “The officers were faced with a pretty daunting challenge in that they entered a fairly small apartment, had a close quarters gun battle with an armed suspect who was holding a hostage and they actually were able to free the hostage without any officers getting hurt and without the hostage getting shot.”
