MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota – A mother and daughter are home, together, after a terrifying morning.
A man stole their car with the 4-year-old in the back seat.
“I literally felt like I was watching a horror movie, but I was living it,” said Jannah Almalki.
Jannah never imagined putting air in a tire, would lead to every parent’s worst nightmare. Early Monday morning she was filling up the rear passenger tire of her car when she noticed the weight shift.
“I felt something heavy weigh down my car and then my car door slammed. And I was thinking, no way that was my daughter,” said Jannah. “At that point, I realized my car is getting stolen.”
As the thief put the car in reverse, Jannah frantically tried to open the doors but they were locked.
“At that point, the car drove off and I just started screaming at the top of my lungs. My daughter! Somebody help me! My baby!”
She and other witnesses began to run after the vehicle as the thief drove into a nearby grocery store parking lot. And then he did something unexpected.
“He stopped at the Hy-Vee grocery store and took her out of the car seat and put her outside of the car,” said Jannah. “I ran up to my daughter and squeezed her and collapsed to the floor, crying.”
Noora was also in tears but relieved.
And it turns out she had some choice words for the thief when they were in the car together.
“That’s my mom’s car. Give her her car back,” said Noora, as she recalled what she said to the thief.
“I didn’t care about my car. Take my car, take whatever you want. But she is irreplaceable. I’m just happy that she’s okay and she’s still here,” said Jannah.
Police found Jannah’s car in Golden Valley and have not made an arrest as of yet.
The car was fine, but the thief did make off with her laptop, wallet and cell phone.
Jannah said next time, no matter how cold it is, she will turn off her car and lock it while she puts air in her tires.