Video Allegedly Shows Attempted Kidnapping Of 7-Year-Old And Bystanders' Quick Actions

A 23-year-old Michigan man was arrested after he allegedly attempted to kidnap a 7-year-old girl an hour after he failed to abduct a 15-year-old girl in another town.

Endi Bala, 23, was arrested Thursday and charged with offenses including attempted unlawful imprisonment after bystanders intervened to stop him from kidnapping two girls in separate instances, the Macomb County prosecutor announced.

Prosecutors alleged that Bala first attempted to abduct a 15-year-old on Tuesday while she was walking down a street in Clinton Township.

The teen recalled the frighting incident in an interview with WXYZ-TV in Detroit. Speaking with her mother by her side, she told the ABC station that she knew something was wrong when a car drove past her, then made a U-turn to stop next to her.

The teen told the station that the driver asked if he could take her home, then grabbed her wrist and threatened her after she rejected his offer twice. Paul Billiter, a bystander, told WXYZ he stepped in and asked the girl if she wanted to go with the man after watching him push her head into his car door.

“So I yanked him out, and I held him there and I told him, ‘Hey, you. You’re not going nowhere with this girl,’” Billiter told the station.

Billiter told the station that neighbors got involved after hearing the disturbance, and the driver fled after Billiter got a picture of the car’s license plate.

Prosecutors said that about an hour later, the same driver approached a 7-year-old girl who was riding her bicycle in Sterling Heights.

Surveillance footage released by local police shows a man they identified as Bala grabbing the girl and placing her into his car before attempting to leave the area. Prosecutors said another bystander intervened,