Students help track kidnapped girl to gas station after witness call

A 16-year-old student was safe after classmates, a witness and a gas station clerk helped pull police to her trail within about 30 minutes of a gunpoint abduction in Hamtramck, Michigan. The girl had been waiting for her school bus near Edwin and Brombach just after 7 a.m. when police said a stranger snatched her.

The first break came from another student who saw the kidnapping and called police. Officers then worked with students at Frontier International Academy, who helped track the girl’s phone location through social media and other contacts, sending investigators toward a Detroit gas station at Nevada Street and Conant Avenue. Police and school officials said the suspect and the teen did not know each other, describing the attack as random.

Inside the Sunoco, clerk Abdulrahman Abohatem noticed the girl was being forced to buy cigarettes and sensed something was wrong. “When he asked her to pay for the cigarette, I said, ‘Stop. There’s something wrong.’ And she mouthed, like talked to me like with no sound, ‘Help,’” he said. Abohatem stepped between the two, moved the girl behind him and pointed out the suspect as police arrived moments later.

The case showed how quickly an abduction can hinge on ordinary people recognizing danger in real time. Students at the bus stop did not try to confront the suspect, but they did alert authorities and help identify the girl’s location, while the clerk used the brief opening he had to separate her from the man holding her captive. Hamtramck police said the suspect was taken into custody and charges were pending with the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office.

City leaders said the incident was also a reminder of the need for stronger public safety protections. Mayor Adam Alharbi said the city would work to ensure enough police officers and more cameras, while the girl’s family said she was home and safe, processing what had happened. In a case that could have ended far differently, a chain of quick decisions by students, a witness and a store clerk kept the teen from disappearing further into danger.