Victorville, Calif. — Security video shows a young mother come into a cell phone store carrying an infant while her 4-year-old plays with a candy machine.
Miguel Macias, the store’s owner, says the woman told him she had noticed a strange man in the parking lot, “She had said that the guy was looking at her from when she got out of her car but she didn’t think he would follow her.” But he did, and quickly grabbed the girl by the arm.
The mom ran after him. “She was just screaming, crying she couldn’t believe it,” said Macias.
The mom and another customer ran out and the girl managed to break free, clinging to her mother’s leg.
Craig Battles, a witness to the scene said, “She was crying, she wasn’t screaming, she was really terrified.” Battles was cutting hair next door and ran out when he heard the commotion. He said, “He ran so when he ran, we all like me, my clients, we were cutting hair, we all ran around there to see what was going on.”
Witnesses say the man then sat in traffic. Nearby store owner Stella Moriel said, “I saw him sit down in the middle of the street and laugh and then he got up and started running again.”
Witnesses say that’s when people nearby tackled him and held him until police came.
Police say the suspect, identified as Terry Ransom, was then arrested.
The store owner and his wife have a 6-year-old, and say this has reminded them to always be on alert, “Knowing it could have easily been my daughter if I had brought her to work with me.”
The suspect was arrested on kidnapping and cruelty charges. The 4-year-old girl was not physically hurt in the incident.
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