EDITOR'S NOTE — March 22, 2024: Police now say the incident was not an attempted child abduction. An earlier version of this story follows.
A parent's worst nightmare played out in Lexington, Massachusetts, on Thursday afternoon when a masked man allegedly tried to kidnap a 9-year-old girl who was playing outside her home.
Lexington police are investigating the incident that occurred around 2 p.m. on Wood Street and say the man was reportedly wearing a ski mask, black gloves and all black clothes. Anyone who saw or heard something is urged to contact police. Those who live in the area are asked to check home surveillance footage between 1:15 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. on Thursday for anything suspicious or unusual.
The family told police the 9-year-old girl, who has autism, was playing in the family's front yard with her younger sister and a young boy who lives next-door when all of a sudden she heard a crack in the backyard. Thinking it was an animal, the girl went to see what it was and found nothing. As soon as she turned around to go back to the front yard, she was grabbed by a man who then put his hand around her mouth to prevent her from screaming.
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She fought back, kicking the man in the groin before running inside the house to call her mom who was at work when all of this was happening.
The man also ran away.
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"For it to happen to me today, like I don't want to go to work. I don't want my kids to go to school. I don't feel safe letting her walk to her bus," the girl's mom said through tears Thursday night. "For me to know there's a man behind my house hiding, that's just like, it makes me feel very unsafe, just being home in general because I am a single mother of three."
While the family is very shaken up from the incident, the mom says she is happy that it ended this way with her daughter safe.
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