2 Arrested After Jealous Ex-Lover Holds Family Hostage at Knifepoint

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By Bay City News Service

Two people were arrested early Sunday morning after allegedly holding a family at knifepoint in a Mill Valley parking lot, according to police.

At 2:08 a.m. Sunday, officers responded to a report of a possible robbery in progress on Seaver Drive, according to police.

When officers arrived, they spoke with a man and a woman who had a 7-month-old baby with them, police said. The family told police that as they were about to leave a parking lot in their vehicle to head home, a man approached them.

The woman said she had recently ended a relationship with the man who approached them, according to police. The suspect allegedly brandished what appeared to be a gun at the victims, police said.

A woman, who stood in front of the family’s vehicle in order to prevent them from leaving, accompanied the male suspect, according to police.

The male driver of the vehicle immediately drove the vehicle out of the parking lot, knocking the female suspect down, police said.

As Mill Valley officers were speaking to the victims, officers with the Central Marin Police Authority received a call from the suspects at a local Bank of America branch in their jurisdiction, police said.

The female suspect told dispatchers a vehicle had struck her. Central Marin police subsequently detained both suspects for Mill Valley police.

Police identified the suspects as Jennifer Reyes and Samuel Rivera-Reyes. Reyes admitted to police that Rivera-Reyes had brandished a knife at the victims, police said.

Police later located a knife near the scene of the crime and it had the appearance of a firearm. Investigators believe that was the weapon brandished in the incident, according to police.

The two suspects were booked into Marin County Jail, police said.