A South Florida mother sprang into action to save her daughter early Monday morning after police said she was forcefully dragged away from her school bus stop.
Lauderhill police said that in self-defense, the mother then stabbed the perpetrator, but even that wasn’t enough to subdue her.
Residents inside the Lakes of Inverrary building in Lauderhill said they woke up to the sound of screaming on Monday morning.
“I was in my room, and I heard “Help me, help me, help me,'” one woman said. “A lot of screaming.”
Neighbors and Lauderhill Police said it all started when a teenage girl was attacked at the school bus stop, by someone experiencing a mental health crisis.
“She (the suspect) was screaming that ‘I’ve been walking around (Interstate) 95 for the last four days,'” the witness said.
Lauderhill Police said the suspect forcibly took the teenager’s cellphone and physically dragged her back to the building. That girl’s mom then came out, and that’s when they began to fight.
Lauderhill police said the suspect pushed the mother through a glass window.
“I went to my safe, got the gun, got my knife, got my phone, came downstairs,” the witness said. “Whatever time I got down to the lobby, I did see the fighting, and then the glass broke.”
Police said the mom had significant lacerations to her arm.
“That’s why there’s blood all over the lobby, all over the floor,” the witness said.
In order to defend herself, Lauderhill police said the mom then took a piece of glass and stabbed the suspect. Lauderhill police said when they got to the scene, the suspect was still fighting the mother and daughter, so they used a taser to subdue her.
Residents said this building has been dealing with squatters and homeless people for a while.
“I think they need to do something better,” a resident named Astle said. “God, there’s kids over here that go into school, and when they get up early in the morning, walking out there, anything can happen.”
The mother and daughter were transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
