An 8-year-old girl in Alpena, Michigan, was saved from a teenager who attempted to kidnap her Wednesday when her 13-year-old brother came to the rescue armed with a slingshot, according to the Michigan State Police (MSP).
The girl was hunting for mushrooms in her backyard when a male came out of the woods, grabbed her, and put his hands over her mouth, but the girl’s big brother was there to witness the incident, police said. The girl managed to break away from the potential kidnapper after her brother fired his slingshot at the 17-year-old suspect, hitting him in the head, Newsweek reported.
“The girl was able to struggle and get away and he shot another one that hit the suspect in the chest and he then fled the scene,” said Lieutenant John Grimshaw of the MSP.
Grimshaw added that the boy’s shot also helped police identify the suspect because he had marks on his body from the slingshot projectiles. Another member of the siblings’ family saw the suspect run off and alerted police to the attempted kidnapping, MLive reported. Troopers found the suspect hiding at a nearby gas station and arrested him.
According to Newsweek, the girl’s uncle posted on Facebook about the incident, writing, “Hey everyone, earlier today my niece was almost kidnapped out of her own yard here in Alpena on the south end of town, a young 17-year-old with a black mohawk grab[bed] my niece and tried kidnapping her[,] my nephew heard her screaming and saw through his window and shot the guy with a slingshot.”
The suspect allegedly told detectives that he planned on beating the girl after abducting her. He was charged Thursday with one count of attempted kidnapping/child enticement, one count of attempted assault to do great bodily harm less than murder, and one count of assault and battery. The 17-year-old was charged as an adult and his bond was set at $150,000, according to MLive.