SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Amanda Hartwell expressed heartfelt gratitude to Jazmine, a 17-year-old employee at a Mission Valley Mall bounce house, for stopping an alleged kidnapping attempt involving her daughter.
Hartwell visited the bounce house on Saturday to meet with Jazmine. She brought a card and a gift card to thank Jazmine for her courageous act on Thursday afternoon.
"I needed to come up here and talk to and meet the person who saved my daughter," Hartwell said.
Hartwell's five-year-old daughter was at the bounce house on Thursday with her sister, another child, and their grandmother when police say a man grabbed her and tried to kidnap her.
"He grabs the littlest one, who is five years old, picks her up, and the other two start screaming," Jazmine said, recalling the moment it happened. "And from that moment, I knew something was wrong."
Once that screaming happened, witnesses said she rushed in to help.
Jazmine said she was sitting in the white trailer near the facility's entrance when her instincts kicked in, and she ran out the door.
"I just ran out, and I grabbed her, and I hugged all three of them, and he sped off," she said.
Jazmine preferred not to disclose her full name or appear on camera.
She has been working at the bounce house since May but went to the facility frequently as a kid. "I just come here to enjoy and have fun with the kids," Jazmine said.
Police apprehended the suspect, 42-year-old Rene Lujan, on eastbound State Route 94 Thursday afternoon. Lujan faces charges related to this incident as well as another attempted kidnapping in the same area earlier in the week.
For Hartwell, she is grateful that her kids thought to yell.
"I'm proud of both of them," she said of her daughters, acknowledging she had discussed with them previously how to handle this situation.
"I'm so overwhelmed, grateful, blessed, thankful that she was here. She risked herself for my children," Hartwell said.
Jazmine, reflecting on her actions, said, "For me to save someone's life, to make sure that someone's protected, makes me feel great."
