A Florida teen, Kymorah Reid, 13, successfully fought off an attempted kidnapper during her walk home from school.
Dramatic footage captured the moment Reid stepped off her school bus in Lauderhill, near Fort Lauderdale, around 5:30 p.m., when a man suddenly approached from behind and grabbed her ankle.
“I was screaming at him, saying, ‘What are you doing? Get off me,’” Reid told local WPLG.
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Reid kicked her attacker away and screamed for help, forcing the man to flee.
Lauderhill police are investigating the incident as an attempted kidnapping and are seeking assistance in identifying the suspect.
“We don’t know if she was followed [or] if this guy was just casing the area waiting for a potential victim,” officer Antonio Gonzales told the local outlet.
“She was definitely a brave child to put up a fight,” he added.
Reid’s mother, Lois Kerr, was horrified by the footage of her daughter being attacked but expressed gratitude that Reid escaped unharmed.
“It was devastating. Nerve-wracking, everything,” Kerr told NBC Miami. “They tried to kidnap my daughter, like everything inside of me stirred, like turned upside down.”
The suspect is described as a light-skinned black male in his late teens or early 20s with short hair, wearing a yellow shirt and red shorts during the incident.
Authorities are offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.
