'Terrified' West Seattle 8-year-old narrowly avoids kidnapping, 22-year-old arrested

SEATTLE - A 22-year-old was arrested over the weekend following accusations of an attempted kidnapping in West Seattle. A young girl was left "terrified" but otherwise safe after the incident. 

Timeline:

Around 2 p.m. on April 25, calls to police reported that a man had tried to take an 8-year-old girl from the front yard of a home, where she was playing with other kids at the time. 

Police out of Seattle say a statement detailed the events on Saturday as follows: 

• The young girl was playing with friends in a residential front yard.
• A 22-year-old man walked up to her and grabbed her by the arm using his left hand.
• He was holding a knife in his right hand while trying to take her to another location.
• When the girl began screaming for nearby adults, the man fled the scene.

Following a neighborhood search, the suspect was still nowhere to be found later that afternoon. However, after distributing visual evidence from a video taken of the suspect, someone matching his description was arrested by police the next day, on Apr. 26. 

Officers report transporting the suspect to Seattle Police Headquarters to be interviewed by detectives. He was then booked into King County Jail for investigation of kidnapping at around 4:30 p.m. on Sunday.

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