Police: Man grabbed 9-year-old near Arlington bus stop

ARLINGTON, Texas - Arlington police are looking for a man who tried to abduct a 9-year-old girl who was walking home from school earlier this week.

The attempted kidnapping happened around 3:40 p.m. Tuesday in the 5200 block of Glen Meadow Drive.

Police said the girl who attends RF Patterson Elementary School in Kennedale had just gotten off the school bus and was walking towards her house.

She said a man wearing dark clothes walked up to her and grabbed her from behind. The girl fought with the man and was able to break free. She ran home for help, police said.

"The reason we believe there's a lot of validity to this is, she actually turned around to try to get away and scratched the suspect and so we were able to recover some DNA from her fingernails,” Arlington PD Lt. Chris Cook said.

That DNA evidence police now have will be entered into a database to see if it matches anyone who has been previously been in prison.

Police describe the suspect as a Hispanic male who is about 30 years old, 5 feet 8 inches tall and about 160 to 170 pounds.

The girl told police the same man tried to talk to her the day before when she got off the bus, but she just kept walking.

Police have canvassed the neighborhood, questioning neighbors and looking for cameras that may have captured the suspect walking by.

Anyone with information should call Det. Grant Gildon at 817-459-5691. Anonymous tips are also welcome through Crime Stoppers at 817-469-TIPS.

The Kennedale Independent School District and Kennedale police are also helping with the investigation. The school district said it sent a letter to parents about the incident.