A 7-year-old girl rescued her little sister after her grandfather’s truck she was in was hijacked on the way home after he picked them up from daycare in Nashville on Wednesday afternoon.
According to a press release from the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD), convicted felon Elijah Malik McDowell, who was on probation out of Rutherford County, eluded police after previously carjacking a black Dodge Charger while holding the 35-year-old victim at gunpoint near a motel. Super 8 on Murfreesboro Pike.
McDowell, 27, abandoned the vehicle and the gun after the spike strip blew out the car’s tires and caused the suspect to crash on the right side of I-440, MNPD said.
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From there, local news station WSMV reported, McDowell ran to a nearby residential area where he then tried to carjack grandfather Luis Mena’s truck after picking up his granddaughters Stephanie, 3, and Amy, 7, from daycare.
“We started arguing,” Mena told WSMV after McDowell, who he said was wearing a ski mask, opened the driver’s side door of the truck and tried to force Mena out of the vehicle. “But my shirt is completely torn. He grabbed me by my shirt and threw me to the ground.”
This knocked Mena unconscious and McDowell left in the truck, with Stephanie and Amy still in the back seat.
“What brought me back to consciousness was when one of my little children cried,” Mena said, according to WSMV. “That was my biggest worry – not only would my truck be stolen, but my girls would be in it.”
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However, the scream Mena heard turned out to have come from Stephanie, who was nearby, as she and her sister were able to get out of the truck before McDowell fled the scene in a stolen vehicle.
“I got into a fight with that guy,” Mena said before recounting Amy’s brave actions. “She jumped off the truck and pulled her sister out of the truck so they could get away and be safe.”
“Materialistic things come and go. But not my girls,” added Mena.
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MNPD said in a news release that detectives from the Specialized Investigations Division’s Neighborhood Safety Unit, who were already in pursuit of McDowell, tracked down the stolen Toyota Tundra pickup to Sadler Avenue. There, the suspect abandoned the vehicle and ran into the woods and onto the railroad tracks, where a police canine team apprehended McDowell.
MNPD said McDowell was treated at a hospital for dog bites on his foot and was charged later Thursday morning with the following: two counts of carjacking, two counts of felony evading arrest, unlawful possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, use of a weapon during the commission of a violent felony, possession of a “Glock switch” that makes the gun fully automatic, aggravated assault for driving toward two children, reckless driving, resisting arrest and driving with a suspended license.
McDowell’s bail was set at $211,000 by a judicial commissioner, according to a news release. WSMV reported that McDowell has prior convictions for aggravated assault and drug charges.
MNPD did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
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