A Florida teen was able to fight off her wannabe kidnapper and send him running after he tried to drag her away with him during her walk home from school.
Footage captures the moment Kymorah Reid, 13, exited her school bus at approximately 5:30 p.m. in Lauderhill, near Fort Lauderdale, when a man unexpectedly approached her from behind and seized her right ankle.
“I was screaming at him, saying, ‘What are you doing? Get off me,’” Kymorah told local WPLG.
A 13-year-old girl successfully defended herself by kicking the man away. Her cries drew attention and made the suspect run away on foot.
Authorities in Lauderhill are looking into the case as a possible attempted kidnapping and are asking for assistance in locating the suspect.
“We don’t know if she was followed [or] if this guy was just casing the area waiting for a potential victim,” officer Antonio Gonzales told the local outlet.
“She was definitely a brave child to put up a fight,” he added.
Kymorah’s mother, Lois Kerr, was shocked to witness the footage of her daughter being attacked, yet expressed gratitude that the teen emerged unscathed.
“It was devastating. Nerve-wracking, everything,” Kerr told NBC Miami. “They tried to kidnap my daughter, like everything inside of me stirred, like turned upside down.”
Authorities have identified the suspect as a light-skinned black male, likely in his late teens or early 20s, with short hair. At the time of the incident, he was dressed in a yellow shirt and red shorts.
A reward of $5,000 is being offered by authorities for information that leads to the arrest of the suspect.