DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Daytona Beach police are looking for a woman they say tried to kidnap a 6-year-old girl walking home from church on Mother’s Day.
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The child was with her mom when the attempted kidnapping happened Sunday around noon along North Halifax Avenue. Her mother was able to pull her away. Both are safe tonight.
Her father told her he wants just to be served and asking for the woman to do the right thing and turn herself in.
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“My heart just dropped, and it’s almost like I just went into tunnel vision,” her father Kelly Granger said. “I wanted to just crawl out of my skin and just go after this individual.”
The 6-year-old and her mother left Our Lady of Lourdes Church when the suspect “tried to karate chop them while they were holding hands,” Granger said.
Daytona Beach are now looking for a woman 25 to 35 years of age, between 5 feet, 6 inches and 5 feet 8 inches tall, short black hair in a bun and skinny build. She was last seen wearing a gray tee shirt with a long red skirt.
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Granger has a message for the person responsible.
“Maybe you’re afraid, maybe it was Mother’s Day (and) you don’t have a child, I don’t know,” he said. “I encourage you to turn yourself in, reach out and get some help.”
Church officials sent out a message to families asking parents to drop off their children and contact them if their child has to walk home alone.
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