Heroic Kids: Three 11-Year-Olds Thwart Abduction of 6-Year-Old Girl at Ice Cream Truck
The three girls saw the suspect holding the victim’s wrist at an ice cream truck and thought she looked ‘afraid,’ cops said.
July 22 2024, Updated 12:58 p.m. ET
Police in Washington are praising three “selfless” and “amazing” 11-year-old girls for thwarting an alleged kidnapping attempt after they noticed the 6-year-old victim “looked afraid," RadarOnline.com has learned.
Around 8:20 p.m. on July 16, officers responded to an apartment complex in Kent regarding an attempted kidnapping in progress, Front Page Detectives reported.
Baula was allegedly having a dispute with the new owners of his practice, authorities said.
The 911 caller said they “witnessed the man picking her up while she screamed and stated that the man did not appear to be a relative.”
Officers arrived within minutes of the call and were able to locate the suspect thanks to the caller’s “excellent description of the man," police noted.
A tip to police in 2022 had them start re-examining the evidence, including a marijuana joint found in the vehicle, cops said.
The suspect, 40-year-old Hayder Albu Mohammed, allegedly tried to “hastily walk away,” but officers caught up with and detained him, according to law enforcement.
Police said an ice cream truck pulled into the apartment complex not long before the 911 call.
Hardin was found in a Louisiana motel and is waiting extradition back to Georgia to face charges in the death of his wife.
The three 11-year-old girls were reportedly walking to the truck when they saw the suspect holding a 6-year-old neighbor’s wrist. The young girl’s brother reportedly called her over, but she “was unable to break his hold.”
The little girl “looked afraid” and Mohammed was “pulling her forcibly along,” police said. The girl told him to let her go, but he refused.
The mother eventually admitted to the 'back-cracking' maneuver on the child, who then started to have the seizures the following day, authorities said.
This is when the 11-year-old girls intervened, as they started recording the incident on their phones. They then told the man to free her, but then he “picked up the child and tried to ‘speed walk’ away,” according to cops.
The girls then confronted Mohammed, asking if he knew her. When he told them he did, the little girl shook her head side to side to indicate he was lying, officials said. Her parents later confirmed they did not know the suspect.
Mohammed then put the girl down and the other three girls pulled her away from him. He then fled as the girls took the victim back to her apartment, officers said.
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Mohammed was arrested and charged with kidnapping. He was booked into jail and was being held on a $250,000 bond.
In a statement, the Kent Police said, "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. 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."