Three 11-year-old girls came to the rescue and saved their 6-year-old neighbor from an attempted kidnapping, according to police in Washington state.
The incident occurred around 8:15 p.m. Tuesday at an apartment complex in Kent — a suburb south of Seattle — when a 911 caller reported seeing a man who was not a relative picking up a small girl who started screaming.
The caller gave a detailed description and the officers who arrived were able to quickly track him down and detain him. The suspect, a 40-year-old Kent resident, was arrested for kidnapping and later booked into King County Jail.
“We want to start this post by acknowledging the selfless bravery of three 11-year-old girls. They saw their friend and neighbor being taken by a stranger, and stepped in without pause to bring her to safety,” the police said in a social media post.
The police said a group of children were gathered near an ice cream truck parked at the apartment complex when the preteen noticed an adult man gripping the girl’s wrist.
“The 6 years old’s young brother was nearby called to her to come but she was unable to break his hold,” the news release states. “The girls stated she looked afraid, and the man appeared to be pulling her forcibly along. They could hear her telling the man to let her go.”
The girls started following the man and recording him with their cellphones. He claimed to know the girl after picking her up but “the little girl shook her head side to side to indicate he was lying.”
The man put her down and left the scene while the older girls took the smaller girl back to her parents, who confirmed they did not know the suspect.
“The little girl is now safe, the man is in jail, and we are impressed beyond words at the maturity and protectiveness displayed by these preteen girls,” police said. “Without their intervention, the excellent description of the suspect from the 911 caller, and the swift response by multiple KPD Officers, the outcome would have changed dramatically.”
