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A teenager managed to save his sister after firing a slingshot from his bedroom window while someone was attempting to abduct her, police have confirmed.
The incident sounds like something out of an episode of The Simpsons, but it’s deadly serious as this person was attempting to kidnap and - he says - ‘severely beat’ an eight-year-old girl.
The terrifying incident happened in Michigan on Wednesday (16 May) while the young girl was out in the back yard of her family home hunting for mushrooms.
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Then, an ‘unnamed male emerged from the woods’ that border the family property in Alpena Township, Michigan State Police said in a press release today.
What happened next is the truly horrific part of the alleged crime.
Lt. John Grimshaw, of the Michigan Police, told local TV news: "The suspect had come through the woods onto the property and came from behind her, grabbed her like you'd see in the movies - hand over the mouth, arm around the waist - and was attempting to pull her into the woods.”
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Luckily, the girl’s 13-year-old brother witnessed the whole thing unfolding before him, and quickly grabbed a slingshot to fire a couple of shots off at his sister’s attacker.
Grimshaw described the teenager’s actions as ‘extraordinary’.
He said: "He really is the one that ... I believe saved his sister's either life or from something seriously bad happening to her.
"He should be commended for it."
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After getting hit by the slingshot, the attacker fled back into the woods near to the house, but was later discovered by state troopers hiding out at a petrol station close to the scene.
Police were able to identify him in part because of injuries that he’d sustained from the shots from the slingshot.
The police said: "The suspect had obvious signs of injury sustained from the slingshot with wounds to his head and chest.”
The 17-year-old suspect is set to be tried as an adult, but has not been named.
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He was taken into custody, where he allegedly confessed that he had ‘planned on severely beating the victim’.
He was taken to a jail in Alpena, police said.
On Thursday (18 May), he was arraigned on a count of attempted kidnapping/child enticement, another count of attempted assault to do great bodily harm less than murder, and one count of assault and battery, the police force has confirmed.
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His bail bond has been set at $150,000 (£120k).
Tom Wood