City offers $10K reward in abduction attempt caught on camera
Police are looking for the man who attempted to abduct a 10-year-old girl as she walked with her 2-year-old brother in South Philadelphia Tuesday afternoon.
This post has been updated.
Police are looking for the man who made a brazen attempt to abduct a 10-year-old girl as she walked with her 2-year-old brother in South Philadelphia Tuesday afternoon.
Surveillance cameras captured the incident, and police on Wednesday released video showing the man pulling up on Porter Street near Lee in a white car around 3:50 p.m. and following the girl and the toddler around the corner onto Lee Street. In the video, the man then sneaks up behind the kids, picks the girl up and tries to walk away with her before dropping her and fleeing after she puts up a struggle.
Investigators from the Special Victims Unit said the young victim told them it was her brother's screams that eventually helped scare the man off.
Mayor Nutter on Wednesday announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the man.
"The message hear is very clear. We need to get this scum off our streets," Nutter said during a press conference at Police Headquarters Wednesday night. "I've never seen a video like this. This is completely insane."
The would-be abductor is described as a Hispanic man between 30 and 40 who's 5 feet 9 to 6 feet tall with a medium complexion, thin build, short, curly black hair and a thin mustache, Special Victims Unit Capt. John Darby said. He wore a black short-sleeved T-shirt and blue jeans and was driving a mid-sized white sedan with a black scuff mark on the driver's side back bumper and a dent on the driver's side front quarter panel. Cops said it's a foreign car and may be late '90s or early-2000s Mitsubishi or Nissan.
Nutter, Darby and Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey implored citizens of Philadelphia and the surrounding counties to keep an eye out for the man and call police with any information.
"We just need to find this guy and get him off the street," Ramsey said, adding that the man never closed his car door when he got out to follow the kids. "He had every intention of bringing her back to the car."
Tipsters are asked to call 215-685-3251, text a tip to PPD TIP (773 847) or reach the department online.