Disturbing home surveillance footage shows how an 11-year-old Arizona girl narrowly escaped death when her suspected kidnapper dragged her off the street as she walked to school.
According to reports, the girl was heading to Sunset Elementary School in Glendale around 8 a.m. on January 26 when the suspect, Joseph Leroy Lewis, pulled his car onto the sidewalk and began chasing her. arizona family.
Police said at a news conference Monday that while she was on her way to school, a “suspicious” man wearing a black jacket with the hood pulled up and blue sweatpants hid at the bottom of the stairs of her apartment. He announced that he was the first to notice it.
She said the man gave her a “strange look” as he passed, and she became frightened and ran out of the apartment.
As she started walking toward school, a silver car pulled up in front of her and she realized it was the man who had just fled, police said.
The observant girl quickly realized that Lewis was trying to grab her and ran away, shouting “help” to her friends who were walking in front of her.
Police said the suspected kidnapper briefly followed her, but then became scared and got back in his car and drove away.
Neighbors said three students then crowded around the girl and escorted her to school. arizona family.
“As a father and a parent myself, it’s horrifying that she was targeted on her normal walk to school,” Glendale Police Officer Moroni Mendez said.
“Someone tried to separate her from her loving family.”
Officers said they later noticed a silver Chevrolet four-door sedan and a man matching the suspect still in the area.
Lewis, 37, was taken into custody later that day on charges of attempted kidnapping and interference with custody.
According to court documents obtained by police, when Lewis was interviewed at the police station and told him of the charges, he did not dispute or deny that he had tried to kidnap the girl, and that he had not tried to kidnap her for a long time. He said he simply wanted to know if he would be “incarcerated” for a period of time. outlet.
Police said Lewis lived near the girl’s apartment complex but had no relationship with her.
It was later revealed that Lewis had a list of past violent crimes, including attempted first-degree murder and aggravated assault after stabbing his mother in the neck in 2013, police said. It is said that
One neighbor in the area described the encounter as “very creepy” but praised the 11-year-old’s ability to realize he was in danger.
“This morning, I was standing on the street corner with my granddaughter and her stroller, making sure our kids got to school safely,” an unidentified neighbor told the Arizona family.
“I just want the best for these kids. They’re young so I don’t have to worry about who’s going to take them.”
The chance of being kidnapped in Arizona is 0.4011 per 1,000 residents in a typical year. crimegrade.org.
According to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, Arizona has the highest rate of missing persons at 14.2 per 100,000 residents.
