The police were quick to respond, the girls’ aunt said.
The normally shy pre-teen wanted to speak with the media to warn other children.
“They did the right thing,” their aunt said. “They knew the right thing to do and they did it.”
The aunt said the girls told her the man stopped in the middle of the road and turned his lights off.
“That alerted the 17-year-old,” their aunt said.
“He got out of the pickup and said, ‘Come here, y’all, come here,’” the 11-year-old said.
The 17-year-old fell on a lifted piece of cement on the sidewalk as she tried to escape but told her younger sister to keep running.
When police got to the scene they talked to the girls and their grandmother, getting a description of the man. He is described as being white, about 40 years old, with brown hair with some graying. He has a thin build and was wearing a dark shirt, white ballcap and jeans. He was driving a light blue extended cab pickup or four-door full-size pickup.
“I will never forget the bloodcurdling screams of the girls,” said the girls’ Nana, with whom they live.
The incident happened at about 6:30 a.m. as the girls took trash out to the Dumpster in an alley behind their house.
The girls had been awakened early to help clean up, their grandmother said.
“They hate going to the alley to take the trash out and I didn’t expect them to in the dark. I saw the youngest go past and I thought she would place the trash on the porch, and then as I passed the door I noticed the gate open. I went out and called for them and thought they must have gone to the alley. I went into my bedroom to make the bed when I heard the screams,” she said.
“The girls are close and at first I thought they were playing until I heard them screaming my name,” she said. The grandmother called 911.
Dr. John Hancock, assistant superintendent of administration and student services of the Temple school district, said that student awareness and education about safety is ongoing in the schools.
“Whatever may happen we are going to work with that so that our students have the skills that they need to deal with some of the challenges that are out there in the world,” Hancock said.
“When I was a child there wasn’t an understanding of what all needed to be done. I think at this point in time, society understands its responsibility to our young people and we have to prepare them for the unpleasant as well as the wonderful things in this life. There are challenges out there for young people,” he said.
“The school district is forever thankful to the Temple Police Department for the wonderful job they do protecting our kids,” Hancock said, adding that police presence in Temple schools is strong, with two officers at the high school and one officer at each middle school. Middle school officers also look after the elementary schools that feed to the middle schools.
Emilio Ybarra, owner of World Martial Arts Academy on First Street in Temple, has self-defense classes for all school-aged children and adults. “Throughout the classes we stress what children should do,” Ybarra said. “It’s not something we can do in one lesson. It is a continual process in the training of the students.”
Temple police, when asked if the incident was related to the attempted kidnapping of a 12-year-old student in Waco on Thursday, said they have no information that would link this incident with anything similar in Central Texas.
Anyone with information should call the Temple Police Department on 298-5500.
