6-year-old girl escapes would-be Miami kidnapper by biting him

News

By Patrick Reilly

July 11, 2023 | 10:20pm

A 6-year-old girl bravely fought off a man who tried to kidnap her outside the child’s Miami apartment building, according to police.

The youngster, identified as Ah’lyric, and her siblings were playing in the courtyard of their complex on Thursday when they noticed a white Range Rover parked nearby, according to an arrest report obtained by NBC South Florida.

The other children went inside, but Ah’lyric stayed outside on the stairway and a man, later identified as Leonardo Venegas, 32, grabbed her arm, she told police.

She tried to free herself from his grasp, but as she fought back he picked her up and tried to carry her away, cops said.

That’s when clamped her jaws down on Venegas’ arm.

“I bit him,” Ah’lyric, told NBC South Florida Monday. She said she learned the defense tactic from her mother.

The bite caused Venegas to drop the girl. He slapped her before fleeing, police said.

“I’m glad she knew how to fight back,” mother Teshia McGill told the outlet.

Venegas was arrested in Miami-Dade County on Sunday and charged with kidnapping and child abuse for trying to snatch the girl outside of her home, according to police records obtained by the news outlet.

The frightening ordeal was captured on security camera. The footage allegedly shows Venegas get out of the white Range Rover and walk toward the building. Moments later, he is seen running from the scene back to his car.

Investigators tracked the car’s license plate to capture Venegas.

He told police he had been in the area looking for houses to buy, but the complex is HUD housing and there are no “for sale” signs, police noted in their report.

When he was asked why he was running away from the apartment complex, he told cops he had heard someone screaming. He requested an attorney when investigators asked about his interaction with the girl.

“This is a case that has us extremely worried, concerned, something that’s not very common,” Miami Police Capt. Freddie Cruz told NBC South Florida. “Luckily we were able to apprehend this individual.”

Cruz said his department is looking into whether there have been additional victims.

“If you’re going to be playing outside, which is a wonderful thing, please, try to play in groups, try to have an adult present, some sort of supervision, know where your children or if you’re a guardian, know where they are at,” Cruz said.