LAUDERHILL, Fla. (WPLG) – Authorities in Florida are searching for a man who tried to kidnap a 13-year-old girl walking home from school in an incident that was caught on camera.

Kymorah Reid, 13, said she was walking home after getting off the school bus Oct. 7 along the 5000 block of Northwest 18th Court in Lauderhill. She heard a man coming up behind her but thought he had just gone running.

“I moved out of his way because a lot of people are jogging here,” Kymorah said.

Surveillance video captured the moments the man began to approach the teen, grabbed her and struggled with her.

“He followed me into the grass, then he dragged my leg. He dragged my leg, my foot on the ground,” Kymorah said. “I was just scared.”

Fortunately, the suspect took off when Kymorah started screaming, and the 13-year-old was not injured.

“I was yelling at him saying, ‘What are you doing? Let me go,'” Kymorah said. “I know most people freeze. They shouldn’t freeze in the moment. They should fight back and fight back.

Investigators are calling the incident an attempted kidnapping.

“She was definitely a brave kid to fight,” said Antonio Gonzalez of Lauderdale police. “We don’t know if she was followed (or) if this guy was just scouting the area waiting for a potential victim.”

Police described the suspect as a black man in his late teens or early 20s, thin build with short hair. He was wearing a yellow shirt and red shorts and appeared alone.

Kymorah’s mother, Lois Kerr, is just happy that her daughter came home safe that day.

“When I saw that (the video), everything in me changed. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me and my child,” Kerr said.

Since then, she says she’s just reassuring Kymorah and hoping the man who attacked her is caught soon.

“She’s safe. Everything will be fine with her and I won’t leave her,” Kerr said. “He must seek Jesus, and secondly, he must surrender. »

Authorities released a flyer Wednesday in hopes someone can provide information to help find the suspect.

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