The drama unfolded Wednesday as the little girl, Savanna Norman, was walking home after playing and jumping on the trampoline at the home of her friend, 9-year-old Raquelle Pittenger, who lives right across the street.
“I looked both ways, and there was no one coming but Š then I went halfway across the street, two guys came out of nowhere,” Savanna says.
And what happened next is every parent’s nightmare.
“They grabbed me,” says Savanna.
But Savanna’s smart moves made her mom very proud.
“Run … and kick … and punch,” says the little girl.
“What’s the No. 1 thing you did that got everybody’s attention around the whole neighborhood?” asks Savanna’s mom, Amy Norman.
“I kicked him,” says Savanna. “I screamed loud.”
This 6-year-old knows “stranger danger” well.
“‘Cause mommy teaches me,” she says.
Amy saw the attempted kidnapping from her front window, and dashed out the door.
“My heart was pounding,” she says.
Meanwhile, her 9-year-old friend Raquelle watched from steps away.
“It made me feel scared and terrible,” she says.
It was a dangerous situation – derailed by a smart little girl who remembered the right thing to do.
“Very proud,” says her mom. “What happened … was very scary for all of us.”
Now the Normans are considering moving from their neighborhood – or at the very least putting a fence up around their house.
The prime suspect, Jakeel Rashon Mason, was arrested and booked into the Pierce County Jail for investigation of unlawful imprisonment. He is being held on $150,000 bail.
Meanwhile, Savanna’s family just learned that Mason lives only a few blocks from their house.