According to a local report, a 9-year-old girl carried her baby brother to safety after a man carjacked her mother’s car from a Las Vegas gas station.
She told local affiliate FOX 5 Las Vegas she stopped at a 7-Eleven near North Las Vegas Airport on Oct. 31 to use an ATM there. The woman parked her car just steps from the entrance while her children, a 9-year-old and an 11-month-old, were in it.
According to the report, she saw a man leave the store, approach her car, and get in as she begged him not to.
“I grabbed his sweater in the door as he opened the [car] door, then he reversed and rolled over my foot,” Quinn said to FOX 5. He looked at my daughter and she was like, “Mom! Mom!” I was like, “Please, my kids are in the car! Please! My kids are in the car!”
“You can have the car,” Quinn reportedly told the suspect. “Just let them out! Let them out!”
The report identified the suspect as Mario Anthony Estrada.
According to the report and a GoFundMe page that has since been established, Estrada drove several blocks while Quinn ran after him and pleaded for him to let the two out.
According to the GoFundMe, she unhooked her baby brother from his car seat and begged the driver to let them out. He finally pulled over and she carried him five blocks back to safety.
At the time, the girl was reportedly not wearing shoes.
Later, police tracked the SUV and the suspect, who led them on a pursuit before crashing into another vehicle, injuring the driver.
According to jail records, Estrada was charged with two counts of kidnapping, two counts of child abuse, and one count of failing to stop at the scene of an accident, disobeying a peace officer, and grand larceny of a motor vehicle. On Nov. 14, he is due in court.
A GoFundMe page set up by the child’s grandmother describes the young girl as a “hero” and her family as struggling.
” My granddaughter, whose kidneys are failing, runs in fear now and has nightmares telling her mother not to let her or her brother die. She hasn’t left her mother’s side and has trouble sleeping.”
According to the woman, Quinn’s four other children are “all so scared.”