A woman is speaking out after she fought back against a man who tried to abduct her outside a grocery store Monday night.
Ashlee McGhee was putting groceries in her car outside a HyVee in Mission when someone came up behind her and startled her.
McGhee said it was a man who asked her where Quivira was. She said she thought about it and told him she didn’t know where it was.
“He seemed like a normal guy that needed directions,” McGhee said.
She said after she answered him, he pulled out a knife and said, “One more thing – get in the car.”
“I felt like I had a split second to think about things, and I thought to myself, if I got in the car, my chances of fighting him are going to be pretty slim,” McGhee said. “So I just thought to myself, ‘I better try to do something now.’”
She said she grabbed the knife to try to pull it away from him. The two struggled, and the man pulled back and said, “I stop. I stop,” and then ran off. McGhee was injured in the struggle.
Police said she was able to give them key clues about the man and which way he went. They set up a perimeter and looked for him. An Olathe police canine unit helped find the man’s scent.
Police said they saw the man climbing down from a roof of a shopping center across the street. They took him into custody, and the suspect has yet to be charged.
“Anytime you’re confronted with an individual trying to take you, you always fight,” Capt. Dan Madden with the Mission Police Department said.
Capt. Madden said the more noise you make, the more attention you can draw, the better chances you have of getting other witnesses to intervene or call law enforcement.
“I’m very thankful. I don’t think I really know what could have truly happened,” McGhee said. “I don’t think I understand it could have been a lot worse.”
------
Ariel Rothfield can be reached at ariel.rothfield@kshb.com.
