A 9-year-old girl is lucky to be safe and back with her family after a man tried to steal a van she was sleeping in Tuesday. And she has her booming voice to thank for it.
Margoth Rodriguez was napping inside the family van in front of a produce store in Miami at around 8 a.m. while her parents shopped inside. That's when a would-be carjacker jumped in the driver's seat and pulled off.
The family had just moved from Boston so this was less than a warm Miami welcome.
After a few moments, Rodriguez woke up to find the stranger and not her parents, whipping the van around. She began screaming, surprising the suspect, she said.
Rodriguez's banshee scream spooked the man so much that he pulled the van over and jumped out just blocks from the Golden Crown Depot on Northwest 21st Street and 13th Avenue.
"I saw him. He grabbed all of my dad's stuff, got out and fled," Rodriguez said. "When he left, I began to ask people on the street if they could help me find my father."
Rodriguez's parents, who left the keys in the car so their daughter could sleep in the cool air conditioning, did not notice the van was gone until they were about to check out. They had run inside to get some fresh fruit for breakfast.
Local
"In the blink of an eye, the car was taken," Margoth's dad, Richard, said. "It was horrible."
An employee at the fruit store and the parents rushed out of the store and began searching the area. A quick search of the area turned up the van, with the little girl locked inside.
"I taught her well. She is a tough little girl," . "I am grateful to God that everything turned out well. Not all parents are as fortunate as me."
Police are looking for a dark man in his 40s, who is around 6-feet tall and weighs about 200 pounds.
As for the Rodriguez family, they learned a valuable lesson about life in their new home.
"I learned that you should love your kids every day and never ever leave them alone," Richard Rodriguez said while squeezing his daughter," no matter how safe you feel."
