A 13-year-old girl in Florida fought off an attempted kidnapping and is now telling the harrowing tale. The teen detailed the ways she used her strength to fend off the attacker by thrashing her body in a way that made it difficult for the man to inflict much harm.
The attack was captured on surveillance video, which authorities are now using to help locate the suspect.
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The girl was walking home from school at the time of the attack.
Thirteen-year-old Kymorah Reid had just gotten off the school bus in Lauderhill, Florida, on October 7, 2024, when she heard someone approaching behind her. “I moved out of his way because a lot of people jog here,” the teen told WPLG.
What happened next is something the teen likely won't ever forget.
According to surveillance video shared by the news outlet, instead of going past her, the man came toward the girl, grabbing her. “Followed me inside the grass, then he drags my leg. He dragged my leg, my foot, onto the floor,” the teen shared, per WPLG. “I was just scared.”
Reid saved herself with her quick thinking.
“I was screaming at him, saying, ‘What are you doing? Get off me,’” Reid revealed. It was her quick reaction that scared the attacker, causing him to run away.
The teen also had an important message for others who could find themselves in her situation. “I know most people freeze up. They shouldn’t freeze up in the moment. They should fight back and kick back,” she said.
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The teen's mother is grateful for her daughter's actions.
“My daughter ran in the room and said, ‘Mommy, somebody tried to kidnap me,'” mother Lois Kerr told NBC 6 Miami. But by the time Kerr was able to run outside, the man was gone.
“It was devastating. Nerve-wracking, everything,” Kerr admitted. “They tried to kidnap my daughter, like everything inside of me stirred, like turned upside down.”
Now, she is simply trying to make sure her daughter feels safe. “She’s gonna be all right, and I won’t leave her side,” Kerr told WPLG.
As for her daughter’s attacker? “He need to seek Jesus, and secondly, he needs to turn himself in.”
Police are still trying to find the attacker.
Lauderdale police are praising the teen for her actions. “She was definitely a brave child to put up a fight,” Antonio Gonzalez, a representative for the department, told WPLG. “We don’t know if she was followed [or] if this guy was just casing the area waiting for a potential victim.”
In the footage released, the suspect is shown to be a Black man with a lighter complexion and short hair. He was wearing a yellow T-shirt and red shorts. Lauderdale police are offering a $5,000 reward to anyone who can help make an arrest. Call police at 954-497-4700, or Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS.
