An 11-year-old girl saved her little brother from attempted abduction — she knew what had to be done

A stranger in Cleveland, Ohio grabbed a 6-year-old and tried to abduct the child. However, his sister acted fast to save the child.

Julianne, 11, was playing with her brother, Hayden, 6, in the front yard of their house. A stranger approached the man prompting the children to stop playing. 

Julianne spoke to Fox 8, "He started to talk to us, but we really couldn’t figure out what he was saying. It was like gibberish so we really didn’t think much of it." When the children did not respond to him, the man started to turn and walk away. However, he quickly turned around and grabbed Hayden's arm, attempting to take the youngster away. Julianne saw the seriousness of the issue right away and knew she needed to act soon to save her brother.

She said, "When he tried to grab my brother, I knew like this was serious. This was not like any handshake or anything." She grabbed her brother immediately and ran to the backyard as "there was no time to panic." She ran to her father, Joshua Moore, screaming to alarm him of the attempted abduction. 

Moore told the outlet, "My daughter came running back there with my son, dragging him by the arm and screaming. I said, ‘Julianne, what’s wrong?’ She said a man tried to abduct Hayden." He ran to the front yard and saw the man walking on the street. He asked him, "Excuse me, did you touch my child?" The man just threw his arms and continued walking. Moore described the incident, " At that point, I came back. My daughter was crying and upset, and we called police." 

The police officers cordoned off the area and located the man on Mayview Avenue. They arrested him after comparing him to Julianne's description, reports Goalcast. The man was identified as Pedro Luyando, and he was charged with abduction. 

Julianne stated that she followed her parents' advice to always look out for her younger brother and to be calm. She said, "My heart dropped because I know that I saved my brother. He would not be here right now." She said, "The best thing I could do was take him and go because it's not good to panic when there's problems because I could've wasted time just sitting there panicking and not knowing what to do."

Julianne's fast thinking and bravery spared both her brother and her family from tragedy. Her father told CBS Pittsburgh, "She's my hero. She saved my son. I told everyone, I truly believe my son wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for her."