In a heart-stopping video recently shared by Escambia County Sheriff’s Office on Facebook, a man gets off from a white Dodge Journey and makes a beeline for a young girl playing near a bus stop. He then tries to grab her and as the girl struggles in his arms, they both fall to the ground. After a quick look around he rushes back to his vehicle and flees the scene while the kid grabs her bag and rushes in the opposite direction.
The incident was reported from Pensacola, Florida, and took place around 7 am (local time) on Tuesday.
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According to ABC News, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed that the man was armed with a knife the moment he jumped off his vehicle and ran towards the girl.
The suspect, currently in custody, has been identified as 30-year-old Jared Paul Stanga. He’s been charged with ‘attempted kidnapping of a child under 13, aggravated assault and battery.’ Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons told reporters, “We have caught the animal.”
Facebook/Escambia County Sheriff’s Office
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The reports goes on to say that at least 50 deputies combed through the area in search of the suspect. They also went through the surveillance video, shared it online, spoke to possible witnesses before eventually tracking their suspect down.
“We understand that we only had a short period of time,” Simmons said. “We wanted to make sure they didn’t ditch this van, they didn’t leave town.”
Facebook/Escambia County Sheriff’s Office
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Stanga was finally caught at his home in reportedly the same clothes he’d worn during the incident. He had ‘blue slime’ all over his arms, something the girl was playing with at the time.
“We applaud the efforts and the resilience of an 11-year-old girl,” Simmons said. “She did the right thing — she fought and she fought and she fought and she never gave up. And then she went straight to her parents which she should have done, told her parents what was going on, who in turn contacted the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.”