Police investigating a report of an attempted child abduction last week in Lexington, Massachusetts, say no such attempt was made.
A family told police last Thursday that a masked man tried to kidnap a 9-year-old girl who was playing in a backyard on Wood Street.
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The Lexington Police Department said Friday that investigators had "concluded this was not an abduction attempt," adding that "there is no ongoing threat to the community."
Police did not elaborate on what led to the report.
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The family told police that the child was playing in her front yard with her younger sister and a young boy who lives next door when she heard a sound in the backyard. She reportedly went back to see if it was an animal, found nothing, and returned to the front yard.
The girl said she was grabbed by a man who put his hand around her mouth to prevent her from screaming, the family told police.
She fought back, kicking the man in the groin before running inside the house to call her mom, who was at work at the time, the family said, reporting that the man ran away.
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"For it to happen to me today, like I don't want to go to work. I don't want my kids to go to school. I don't feel safe letting her walk to her bus," the girl's mom told NBC10 Boston last week. "For me to know there's a man behind my house hiding, that's just like, it makes me feel very unsafe, just being home in general because I am a single mother of three."
"The Department is grateful for the cooperation and support of the Wood Street area throughout this process," police wrote in a press release Friday. "We also appreciate the patience and assistance of the community throughout this investigation.
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