Police: Kidnapped 7-Year-Old Found In North Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - A 7-year-old girl kidnapped by a stranger is recovering after being reunited with her family.
Naziya was playing outside a friend's house on James Avenue North in Minneapolis around 3 p.m. Saturday.
Police say that's when a stranger approached the girl and asked her to help him look for a lost puppy.
The girl left with the man, but after hours of searching, the girl was found safe and sound.
There were tears and many hugs as Naziya was reunited with her family.
"This is a very emotional and a very tough deal," said Minneapolis police spokesman John Elder. "We're excited to be able to say, in fact, that this ended positively today."
Two hours after she went missing, she was found by an officer, unharmed, walking alone on the street just a few blocks away.
Friends of the family said the girl was playing with a group of kids, around the ages of 7 to 10, outside a friend's house, when she was taken.
Police are interviewing the children to try to find the kidnapper.
"This, in fact, is still being treated as a stranger abduction, and we are putting all of our resources available to this to find out who this individual was," Elder said.
The kids weren't able to give police a good description of the man.
They said he's white man in his 30s with a spotty or pockmarked complexion.
He was wearing a black jacket with horizontal stripes.
If you have any information, you should call Minneapolis Police.
