Police Continue Search for Would-be Kidnapper

Police continued their search Tuesday for a man who attempted to kidnap a 5-year-old little girl from the front yard of her Azusa home.

Kimberly Hernandez was watching her daughter Alexa and a friend play on the front lawn of their apartment complex in the 500 block of Gladstone Street around 8:30 p.m. Monday night when her infant fell asleep in her arms.

She said turned around for less than a minute to put the baby down when she heard her daughter’s friend screaming.

The little boy chased the man, who had Alexa by the hair, and Hernandez joined the chase.

“He still wasn't letting go. I was screaming all the way over here,” Hernandez said. “He just looked at me and said, ‘What?!’”

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Alexa continued to struggle and he eventually let her go.

"He grabbed her and pulled her and dragged her all the way to the trash can, and that's where he threw her," Hernandez said. "She just kept fighting and getting back up."

Police searched into the night, but surveillance cameras didn’t provide a good look at the man.

The attacker was described as a Hispanic man in his 20s, 5 foot 4 inches tall, weighing about 150 pounds. He had a bald head and was wearing a short-sleeve collared shirt with a blue- and red-stripe design and blue jean shorts.

Hernandez said her family, who moved into the complex just three weeks ago, had a difficult time Tuesday night.

"I'm scared, we're all scared," she said. "We didn't really sleep last night."

The little boy who saw the attempted kidnapping said he has seen the suspect in the area before, and police said they are looking into any neighborhood connection.

"We don't know, we can only speculate, if the suspect had been watching the children or if he happened to see them when the children were unsupervised,” said Cpl. Jorge Sandoval.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Azusa Police Department.