OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – A man has been arrested in connection to an attempted kidnapping at a Walmart earlier this week, the Osceola County Sheriff's Office said.
Luis Davila-Quinones was arrested by detectives on an attempted kidnapping charge.
The Sheriff's Office said the incident happened Sunday at the Walmart store at 904 Cypress Parkway when the suspect approached a child in the parking lot and repeatedly told her to get in his car.
The video of the incident in the parking lot shows a red sedan pulling up and the driver’s side door opening. The girl is seen walking toward the store, then talking to the man. After a few seconds, she runs into the store.
Detectives were able to positively identify and develop probable cause to arrest Davila-Quinones through the "incredible courage of the victim, the cooperation of the business community in Poinciana and investigative efforts," the Sheriff's Office said.
Sheriff says it's because of a "brave" 10 yr old girl that the man was captured. #breaking pic.twitter.com/Qor8DH06R4
— Troy Campbell (@TroyLeeCampbell) March 24, 2017
The girl was going back to her grandmother’s car to get a debit card when the encounter happened, deputies said. She told deputies the man told her to "get in the car," according to the report.
[READ: Grandmother of attempted kidnapping victim speaks to News 6]
[Watch video of the attempted abduction in the video player below.]
The girl yelled "no" and immediately told her grandmother what happened, deputies said.
Niobis Jaquez, the girl's grandmother, said they were elated to hear news of the arrest.
"I was crying," Jaquez said. "I was thanking God. I was thanking everyone. I was overjoyed."
Osceola County Sheriff Russ Gibson said it was clear the man's intentions were not good.
The sheriff commended the girl's response to run away and tell an adult.
"This is what we teach our children, if someone tried to get you in the car, tried to help you find their puppy, don't do that," Gibson said. "You turn, you run, you make sounds and you let a parent know."
Gibson said the fact that the man tried to abduct the child in broad daylight in a busy parking lot says a lot about his mindset.
Davila-Quinones told detectives he was trying to help the girl because he thought she was lost, according to the charging affidavit.
Jaquez said that explanation doesn't make sense because her granddaughter would have approached one of the police officers at the store if she were actually lost.
"Well he said that she was lost, that he thought she was lost. Lost where? Lost where at Walmart? You came with somebody you are not lost. Someone is in there, you know?" she said.
"Many times these suspects build up to this moment. They could be people looking at child porn and doing things like that and build up to this moment to where they actually put thoughts into actions," Gibson said, "and that's why it's so dangerous."
Deputies said if the man tried it with one child, he could try it again and succeed.
Davila-Quinones was put in a cage in the back of the room during his first court appearance Friday. A judge ordered that he be held without bond.
"That's where animals are kept," Jaquez said. "You are an animal to us. You were an animal trying to take our cub, and guess what? She had the Lord on her side."