Chilling footage shows the moment a teenager had a very near miss with a would-be kidnapper.
Many of us might imagine how we would react in a scenario where someone comes after us, but there's no way to know for sure unless you're actually exposed to that.
Fortunately for one 15-year-old girl, when the worst happened and a man attempted to snatch her off the street her quick reaction saved her.
Police reports indicate that the would-be kidnapper approached the girl near to Figueroa Street Elementary School in Los Angeles at around 3.30pm on July 16.
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After approaching her, the man appeared to put his hand around her neck in an apparent attempt to kidnap her.
Fortunately, the girl thought very quickly and managed to escape her attacker.
She did this by appearing to whack the man with her phone, which distracted the man enough for her to break free and run away.
Police have since confirmed that the suspect fled the scene with the gun.
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The Los Angles Police Department added that they are treating the incident as an attempted kidnapping, and have not made any arrests related to it at present.
Neither the teenager nor her mom have bee publicly identified in the wake of the incident.
Another woman who escaped a kidnapper aged just 15 was Kara Robinson Chamberlain.
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Kara told how when she was just 15 she was kidnapped by serial killer Richard Evonitz who pulled a gun on her and forced her to get into a storage bin he carried in the back of his car.
While being driven, Kara recalled how she had been able to note the number of the turns that Evonitz had taken as well as the music he was listening to and the cigarettes he was smoking.
Once back at his apartment, Evonitz assaulted Kara for 18 hours.
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But despite the horrifying situation, Kara was able to calmly gather information while in the apartment and her calming behaviour may well have been a crucial factor in saving her life as it helped her to gain the trust of her attacker.
Kara was able to escape after 18 hours of captivity, making her getaway while Evonitz was sleeping.
She approached a car and asked to be taken to the police station, and from there she was able to guide officers back to the apartment.
After a police pursuit, Evonitz was caught when his car ran over road spikes and he took his own life before being arrested.
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UNILAD has reached out to the LAPD for comment.
Kit Roberts