Stranger prevents abduction of 11-year-old walking to school bus stop

A stranger is being credited with saving an 11-year-old Michigan girl from being abducted as she walked to school Tuesday morning.

Fox 2 in Detroit reported that Raja Ringo was on her way to school in Highland Park when a man appeared from behind a bush and grabbed her by the arm.

“He grabbed my arm so tight, it hurt through my coat,” Raja told reporter Erika Erickson.

“What were you thinking when he did that?” Erickson asked Raja.

"That I might die," the girl said.

Raja, who was walking to school with her siblings, said that when the man grabbed her, another man taking his own daughter to school emerged from a nearby gas station and scared away the attempted abductor. She did not hear what the man said to him, Fox 2 reported.

WXYZ in Detroit reported that the children continued to their bus stop and told the bus driver what happened. The driver immediately took them home.

The man who stopped the attempted abduction has not been identified.

Raja told Fox 2 that she's now afraid to leave her home. She was passing an abandoned building in her neighborhood when the man approached her.

Highland Park police are investigating the case. The police chief told WXYZ that officers will be going into schools to talk to the children about strangers and safety, and to assure them that investigators are doing everything they can to catch the man who tried to grab Raja.

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