An 8-year-old girl in Chicago fought off a would-be kidnapper — kicking him and running away — as he tried to put a plastic bag over her head, a report says.
“I am extremely proud that I raised a fighter,” the child’s mother, Cheniece Kidd, told WLS-TV on Monday.
“She is not going to give up and let nobody take her,” she said. “She knows she has family that loves her and wants her home.”
The youngster had been riding her bike around the block on Sunday, in Chicago’s South Austin neighborhood, when an unknown man came up behind her and attempted to kidnap her around 3:30 p.m., according to WLS.
“He didn’t say a word,” recalled the girl’s grandmother, Teressia Kidd.
“He snuck up on her and put the bag on her head.”
Using her instincts, the little one kicked the man repeatedly until he lost his grip and let her go. She then ran away and darted inside her grandmother’s house for help.
“You could see in her face something was wrong,” Cheniece said. “She is not a crybaby, so she wasn’t crying. She was just confused as of the incident that took place.”
The suspect — described as a black male in his 40s, bald, 5 feet 5 inches tall and of medium build — was said to have a tattoo of a heart on his neck.
Cops were still on the hunt for him Monday night.
“It is very sickening,” Cheniece said. “And this is a family block.”
Teressia added, “You got to be prayed up. Expect the unexpected. Things can happen at the wink of an eye.”
The failed kidnapping is the second such incident to be reported in Chicago this month, with the first coming April 9, according to WLS.
The young girl in that situation had been hanging out in a park with some other kids when a man came up and grabbed her. She also managed to fight her way out of his arms and escape.
“It is scary,” Cheniece said. “I am scared, not just for my kids but for everyone else’s kids.”