A 6-year-old girl in Florida saved herself from abduction by biting the man who tried to take her, police say.
The incident happened around 8 p.m. on Thursday in Miami, the Miami Police Department said in a news release.
The young girl, Ah’lyric, was playing outside in the courtyard of her apartment complex when a man came up and grabbed her arm, NBC South Florida reported.
According to arrest documents, Ah’lyric was with her siblings when they saw a white SUV park near the complex.
The other kids went inside, but the 6-year-old sat on the stairway when she was suddenly grabbed by a man who pulled her towards the back of the stairs.
Ah’lyric fought back after he picked her up and tried to carry her away.
“I bit him,” the girl told NBC South Florida Monday, noting that her mother taught her how to defend herself.
That tactic worked. The girl’s bite caused him to drop her, according to documents from the police department. The man then slapped her and ran away towards the front of the apartment complex, allowing the girl to run and tell her aunt what happened, the documents said.
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Police track down man from security footage
Police looked at security footage from the apartment complex, which showed the man’s vehicle pulling into the complex. In the footage, the man, later identified as 32-year-old Leonardo Venegas, is seen walking up to the staircase where the girl was and running back out towards the parking lot before the white SUV leaves the complex.
Ah’lyric saw the footage and confirmed the man in the video is the one who tried to kidnap her, the documents said.
Investigators were able to track the SUV because the car passed a license plate reader.
Venegas was found two days later on Saturday and taken into custody. He was charged with kidnapping and child abuse with no great bodily harm, police said.
Venegas told investigators he was looking for houses to buy, but the complex is considered HUD housing and there are no “for sale” signs, a report obtained by NBC South Florida showed.
The man also said he ran when he heard someone screaming but when police asked him about the girl, he asked for a lawyer, the news station reported. Venegas was held in jail without bond Monday, NBC South Florida reported.
Detectives said there may be other victims and have asked them to come forward.
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