A Miami girl thwarted her attempted kidnapping by taking a bite out of the crime goer.
A brave 6-year-old girl named Lyric fought off an adult kidnapper who attempted to snatch her from her home in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood.
Leonardo Venegas, a 32-year-old North Miami man, was arrested for kidnapping the girl after she had finished playing with her siblings outside her apartment building.
Venegas grabbed her arm and attempted to carry her away, but the young girl bit him so hard that he dropped her. The girl managed to escape and ran to her aunt for help.
“He picked me up and then he slapped me,” Lyric recalled. “Then he threw me on the floor and started running.”
Officer Kiara Delva of the Miami Police Department commended the girl for her bravery to Local News 10.
“She fought for her safety, which ultimately saved her from a potentially very dangerous situation,” Delva told the outlet. “We’re thankful that she did enough to save her life.”
The child’s mother said that she had taught children to always fight back and protect themselves from strangers.
Venegas was apprehended by Miami police robbery detectives based on CCTV footage that captured his entry into the complex.
He claimed to be looking at houses for sale, despite the fact that the complex was HUD housing with no for sale signs.
During questioning, Venegas admitted to being the person in the video but refused to answer further questions without an attorney present.
Authorities are concerned that there may be other victims and urged anyone who may have been assaulted by Venegas to come forward and report it to the police.
Venegas is currently being held without bond at the Metro West Detention Center on charges of kidnapping and child abuse, in addition to an immigration hold.
Lyric’s situation was eerily similar to another brave six-year-old who escaped her kidnapper over the weekend, but lost her sister in tragedy.
A Rockford girl and her 10-year-old sister were kidnapped by a convicted sex offender on Saturday when they were playing outside, but the younger child managed to escape and tell her mother.
The police were quick to respond, but minutes into the search, a bystander flagged them down after locating the unresponsive 10-year-old.
Police performed CPR and the girl was transported to a local hospital, but she was pronounced dead.
They arrested convicted sex offender Antonio Monroe a few blocks away from where the girl’s body was found.
He was charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated battery by strangulation and two counts of kidnapping, according to ABC 7 Chicago.
