Overview

• Police say 36-year-old John Lacen-Romero assaulted a woman in Newington on Sunday before taking two children from the home.
• Stamford officers located the vehicle around 1:45 p.m., pursued it onto I-95 South, and it became disabled near Exit 7 after multiple crashes.
• A barricade at North State Street and Canal Street lasted for hours until tactical units took Lacen-Romero into custody and recovered the children, who were evaluated at a hospital.
• He faces counts including first-degree kidnapping and second-degree strangulation and is being held on a $2 million cash or surety bond following a Monday court appearance.
• The Department of Correction confirms he has worked at MacDougall-Walker since 2022 and remains employed pending the outcome of the case.