An 11-year-old girl narrowly escaped being ripped off by suspected kidnappers as she walked to school in Arizona, disturbing home surveillance footage shows.
The girl was on her way to Sunset Elementary School in Glendale around 8 a.m. on Jan. 26 when the suspect, identified as Joseph Leroy Ruiz, pulled her car over on the sidewalk and began chasing her, according to Arizona Family.
The fifth-grader first saw a “suspicious” man wearing a black jacket with a hood pulled over his head and blue sweatpants lurking at the bottom of the stairs of his apartment building as he was leaving for school, police said in a press briefing Monday.
She said the man gave her a “weird look” as she passed him, scaring her enough that she rushed out of her apartment complex.
He started walking toward his school when a silver car pulled up in front of him, and he noticed it was the same man he had just run over, according to police.
The suspect was seen getting out of his car and chasing the girl as she walked to school. YouTube/ AZFamily
The watching teenager immediately realized that Ruiz was trying to grab him and ran away shouting “help” to the friends he saw walking in front of him.
Police said the suspected kidnapper chased her a short distance before she got scared and got back in her car to drive off.
Three students then surrounded the girl and escorted her to school, neighbors told Arizona Family.
Three of the 11-year-old’s friends accompanied him to school after the terrifying kidnapping attempt. YouTube/ AZFamily
“As a father myself, as a parent, it’s very scary that on a normal walk to school, he was targeted,” Glendale police officer Moroni Mendez told the outlet.
“Someone tried to take him away from his beloved family.”
Officers later said they saw a silver four-door Chevrolet sedan and a man matching the suspect’s description still hovering around the area.
Ruiz, 37, was arrested that day on charges of attempted kidnapping and custodial interference.
Joseph Leroy Ruiz was charged with attempted kidnapping and custodial interference. YouTube/ AZFamily
After interviewing her at the station — and informing her of the charges — Ruiz did not argue or deny that he had tried to kidnap the girl and only wanted to know how long she would be “locked up,” according to court documents obtained by the outlet.
Police explained that Ruiz lived near the girl’s apartment complex but had no relationship with her.
It was later revealed Ruiz had a long list of previous violent offenses – including attempted first-degree murder and an aggravated assault charge from 2013 after he stabbed his mother in the neck, police said.
A neighbor in the area praised the 11-year-old’s ability to realize he was in danger, calling the encounter “very creepy.”
Ruiz has a long list of previous violent offenses — including attempted first-degree murder and aggravated assault charges from 2013. YouTube/ AZFamily
“This morning, I was standing on the corner with my granddaughter and my stroller just watching the kids, making sure they got to school safely,” the unidentified neighbor told Arizona Family.
“I just want the best for these kids. They are young and don’t have to worry about who is going to take them.”
The likelihood of being kidnapped in Arizona is 0.4011 per 1,000 residents in a standard year, according to Statistics provided by Crimegrade.org.
According to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, Arizona has the highest percentage of missing persons, at 14.2 missing persons per 100,000 residents.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
