Last month, a Black 13-year-old girl was walking home from the school bus when she heard the footsteps of a man rapidly approaching her. Thinking it was another jogger from the neighborhood, she shuffled out of his way.
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However, she realized one moment too late that he was chasing her.
Kymorah Reid told WPLG the incident happened on Oct. 7 while she was headed home on the 5000 block on Northwest 18th Court in Lauderhill, Fla. Frightening surveillance footage released Wednesday by the Lauderhill police and Broward Crime Stoppers shows a young adult man striding toward Reid and wrapping his arms around her from behind.
In the video, the two are seen struggling as the man appears to try and take her to the ground. Reid told NBC6 Miami she instinctively began screaming and fighting back.
“[He] followed me inside the grass, then he drags my leg. He dragged my leg, my foot, onto the floor,” she said. “I was screaming, ‘Get off of me. What are you doing?’”
The incident only lasted a few seconds before the man fled in the direction he came. Reid’s mother, Lois Kerr, told reporters she saw her daughter fly into house saying, “Mommy, somebody tried to kidnap me.”
Kerr, startled by her daughter’s words, said she ran outside to see who the culprit was. However, the man was gone.
““It was devastating. Nerve-wracking, everything. They tried to kidnap my daughter, like everything inside of me stirred, like turned upside down,” Kerr said via NBC6.
Police described the suspect as a Black man in his late teens or early 20s, thin with short hair and wearing a yellow shirt with red shorts. Police determined he acted alone. Though, it’s been nearly a month and authorities still haven’t had any luck locating the man.
They are considering the incident to be an attempted abduction. Police are on the hunt for the suspect, and authorities are offering a $5,000 reward for any information that may lead to an arrest.
“She was definitely a brave child to put up a fight,” said Antonio Gonzalez from Lauderdale Police, via WCTV. “We don’t know if she was followed or if this guy was just casing the area waiting for a potential victim.”
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