Video footage shows a shocking incident involving a homeless robber’s “attempted kidnapping” of a young child on the doorstep of an elderly grandmother’s home in France.
According to the Daily Mail, the homeless robber followed a 73-year-old grandmother and her young grandchild into their home around 5:30 p.m. in Bordeaux, a city in southwestern France, before violently throwing them out of their home into the street.
In a video shared on Twitter, the suspect can be seen blocking the door from being closed before dragging both the grandmother and granddaughter out of the house, throwing the child to one side and attempting to grab some of the grandmother’s belongings.
The video shows the child running back to her grandmother before the family’s dog came to the door, allegedly scaring off the suspect.
While the suspect’s name has not yet been revealed, the Daily Mail reported that he was arrested one hour after the incident and is believed to be a homeless Frenchman.
Police reportedly had to use an electroshock weapon while encountering the suspect due to his “agitated state.”
The suspect is reported by the Daily Mail to be “well known” to law enforcement due to roughly 15 previous convictions.
Bordeaux’s public prosecutor noted that the grandmother said the attacker was attempting to kidnap her granddaughter prior to being scared off by the barking of the family’s dog.
The grandmother is expected to be monitored for a few days, after sustaining multiple injuries to her head, foot, and elbow.
The young child reportedly received bruises and cuts as a result of being thrown on the pavement.
“She will be seen again today, as well as the child, so that a forensic doctor can carry out a complete expertise of the two victims and determine the psychological consequences of this act of particular violence, as evidenced by the video broadcast on the social media,” the prosecutor announced in a statement.
Mayor Pierre Hurmic acknowledged he was “extremely shocked” by the incident, but said answers to the problem “are not simple.”
“They are only simple for those who are looking for scapegoats […] I will not howl with the wolves, that is the easy solution,” he added.
Other French leaders have been more outspoken regarding the incident, according to Newsweek.
“These attacks are daily and the insecurity, aggravated by the migratory chaos, is becoming endemic,” Marine Le Pen, a National Rally leader, tweeted. “How many videos like this are needed before the authorities react?”
