Gas station clerk saves abducted teen after she silently mouthed ‘help’
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: ABC7
A courageous gas station clerk has been credited with helping save a teenage girl after she silently mouthed 'help' during a terrifying ordeal earlier this week.
The alleged crime happened shortly after 7am local time near Edwin and Brombach in Detroit on Monday (April 13), while the girl was waiting for the bus to get to school.
Some 30 minutes later, the suspect, who did not know the teenager, brought the schoolgirl into a Sunoco gas station and brought some cigarettes, which he told the girl to pay for.
Store clerk Abdulrahman Abohatem was the man serving the suspect and he immediately knew something wasn't quite right.
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He told WXYZ: "When he ask her to pay for the cigarettes, I stop and go there's something wrong. And she mouthed talked to me, like with no sound, 'help'."
Trusting his instincts, Abohatem came out from the shop's protective glass and confronted the man before bringing the teenager to a point of safety.
"I go out, I kick him out, I ask the girl go behind me," the store clerk added.
Fellow students are said to have witnessed the kidnapping and assisted police to track the girl's location through her phone.
This meant cops were able to get to the scene and arrested the alleged kidnapper before they were able to escape the scene.
CCTV footage from the gas station shows Abohatem stepping between the suspect and the teenager, before the store clerk and the suspect go out as the police arrive.
"I see the police outside. I point to him -- 'That's the guy'," Abohatem recalled.
The suspect has a history of rape charges, according to police.
Hamtramck Police Department Chief Hussein told press: "This is a random incident. This suspect could have driven anywhere, saw the opportunity and took advantage of it."
While the Hamtramck Police Department added in a statement to ABC News: "The suspect is still in custody and charges are pending with the Wayne County Prosecutors Office."
The teenager's family told WXYZ that she is safe at home following the incident and is said to be grateful for the help of the community.
Mohammed Alsanai, principal of the teenager's school, Frontier International Academy, told ABC News: "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'."