LAUDERHILL, Fla. (WPLG) – Authorities in Florida are searching for a man who tried to kidnap a 13-year-old girl walking home from school in an incident that was caught on camera.
Kymorah Reid, 13, says she was walking home after getting off the school bus Oct. 7 along the 5000 block of Northwest 18th Court in Lauderhill. She heard a man come up behind her but thought he was just out for a run.
“I moved out of his way because a lot of people jog here,” Kymorah said.
Surveillance video captured the moments when the man started coming toward the teenager, grabbed her and struggled with her.
“Followed me inside the grass, then he drags my leg. He dragged my leg, my foot, onto the floor,” Kymorah said. “I was just scared.”
Thankfully, the suspect took off when Kymorah started yelling, and the 13-year-old was not harmed.
“I was screaming at him, saying, ‘What are you doing? Get off me,’” Kymorah said. “I know most people freeze up. They shouldn’t freeze up in the moment. They should fight back and kick back.”
Investigators are calling the incident an attempted abduction.
“She was definitely a brave child to put up a fight,” said Antonio Gonzalez with Lauderdale Police. “We don’t know if she was followed [or] if this guy was just casing the area waiting for a potential victim.”
Police described the suspect as a Black man in his late teens or early 20s who is thin with short hair. He was wearing a yellow shirt and red shorts and appeared to be alone.
Kymorah’s mother, Lois Kerr, is just glad her daughter made it home safely that day.
“When I saw that [the video], everything inside of me, turned upside down. I couldn’t believe it was happening to me, to my child,” Kerr said.
Since then, she says she’s just been reassuring Kymorah and hoping the man who attacked her is caught soon.
“She’s safe. She’s gonna be all right, and I won’t leave her side,” Kerr said. “He need to seek Jesus, and secondly, he needs to turn himself in.”
Authorities released a flyer Wednesday in hopes someone can come forward with information to help track down the suspect.
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