MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake Police officers foiled an attempted carjacking Tuesday, saving two children who were in the vehicle according to an MLPD statement.

Around noon, an off-duty police officer spotted Salvador Harguideguy, whom he knew to have felony warrants, near Ivy Avenue in Moses Lake. The officer contacted the department and officers set up a perimeter around the area, according to Moses Lake Police Chief Kevin Fuhr.

As Harguideguy exited a building, he spotted the officers and fled on foot to Western Avenue, where he encountered a woman with two children in her car, who was about to drive away, the announcement said.

Harguideguy forced his way into the driver’s seat and attempted to drive away with the children in the back seat, the post said. The officers who were pursuing him moved the car’s owner to safety and dove into the car on top of Harguideguy. While Harguideguy was fighting with the officers, the children’s mother and passersby got the children safely out of the car.

Once officers succeeded in taking Harguideguy into custody, he was taken to the hospital and cleared, then booked into Grant County Jail on charges of first-degree robbery, attempted motor vehicle theft and resisting arrest, as well as on existing warrants for second-degree assault, possession of a stolen firearm, unlawful possession of a firearm and second-degree burglary/theft of a firearm.

Fuhr praised his officers’ quick response.

“They were in the car seconds behind him,” he said. “They weren’t going to let him get away with that car and those kids.”