A gas station clerk in Detroit is being hailed a hero after helping to save a teenage girl who mouthed the word “help” as a terrifying scene unfolded on Monday, April 13.
As per Hamtramck Police Department, the girl in question, aged 16, was waiting for the bus to school near Edwin and Brombach when she was allegedly abducted and taken to a nearby Sunoco gas station.
Abdulrahman Abohatem was the clerk working there when the suspect and the teen girl entered. He claimed to have sense something was wrong between the two of them.
The suspect – who reports say did not know the teenager – brought some cigarettes, which he then ordered the girl to pay for.
“When he asked her to pay for the cigarette, I said, ‘Stop. There’s something wrong.’ And she mouthed, like talked to me like with no sound, ‘Help,'” Abohatem recalled.
Trusting his gut instinct, Abohatem came out from behind the store’s protective glass and confronted the suspect.
“I go out, I kick him out, I ask the girl go behind me,” the store clerk said.
Meanwhile, a 911 call had been placed to the police from an unidentified caller who said they had witnessed the abduction.
“I’m walking to my bus stop, and I just see somebody snatching this girl,” the caller can be heard saying in the 911 call, released by Hamtramck Police Department.
In surveillance footage from the gas station, the heroic Abohatem is seen stepping between the girl and the suspect. The store clerk then walks outside with the suspect just before police arrive.
“I see the police outside. I point to him — ‘That’s the guy,'” Abohatem recalled.
As per ABC News, investigators revealed they had tracked the teenage girl’s location through her phone with the help of friends from her school.
The school’s principal, Mohammed Alsanai, said: “One of her friends opened the location through one of the social media apps. I said, ‘Oh, I could see her location right now’.
“As we show the police the location, informed the dispatch, and as she walked in and said she had the location, like the whole room froze and we all look at each other like, ‘Here we go.'”
According to police, the suspect has a history of rape charges.
In a statement given to the press, Hamtramck Police Department Chief Hussein said: “This is a random incident. This suspect could have driven anywhere, saw the opportunity and took advantage of it.”
On Wednesday, April 15, Hamtramck Police Department told ABC: “The suspect is still in custody and charges are pending with the Wayne County Prosecutors Office. We hope to have more information to share on this matter at some point today.”
The girl’s family have said she is recovering at home following the incident.
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