Mom with a gun stops abduction attempt

A West Virginia mother was able to scare off an attempted kidnapper with her concealed firearm on Monday night, according to multiple local media outlets.

A mother was shopping with her 5-year-old daughter at Huntington Mall in Barboursville, W. Va., around 6:15 p.m. on Monday. As the pair were in Old Navy, a 54-year-old Egyptian national allegedly approached them and grabbed the 5-year-old by her hair and began to drag her away from her mother. That’s when the mother pulled her gun and told the man to let her daughter go.

Zayan then ran out of the store and was apprehended by mall security near the food court a short while later. He was charged with attempted abduction and jailed on $200,000 cash bond.

The suspect is reportedly an engineer who had been working in the area and living at a local motel. Police told local news outlets that he does not speak English and was afforded an interpreter during his arraignment in Cabell County Magistrate Court.