Little girl kidnapped walking home from California school. Screaming helped her get to safety

A 9-year-old girl walking home from school was kidnapped for a brief moment Wednesday afternoon in Sanger, police said.

The abduction happened around 1:45 p.m. near John F. Kennedy Park on Faller and North avenues.

Sanger police said the little girl told officers that she was walking by herself from Jefferson Elementary School when white van or SUV pulled alongside her. That’s when a man wearing a mask and dressed in all black snatched the child by the arm and pulled her inside the vehicle, according to police.

The child was driven no more than two blocks before the kidnappers let her go and ran home, police said.

Sanger police Chief Greg Garner said said the 9-year-old’s loud screaming might have played a factor in her release.

“It was a completed kidnapping; thank goodness it was a brief event,” Garner said. “She was unharmed.”

Sanger police are looking for the man who grabbed the girl, as well as the woman who police say was driving the white van/suv. The child described the woman to police as having short hair and light skin.

The girl, who police praised for being composed, said she did not know the people who kidnapped her and did not have any information who they may be.

Anyone with addition information, including surveillance footage in the area, is asked to contact the Sanger police at 559-955-1751.

Sanger police encourage children to avoid walking alone and instead walk in at least pairs, if not as a group, for safety purposes.