Author Topic: Egyptian Man Arrested after Mom Stops Attempted Abduction at Huntington (WV) Mall  (Read 1108 times)

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Offline mountaineer

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Egyptian Man Arrested after Mom Stops Attempted Abduction at Huntington Mall
 By:      WOWK 13 News Team
Posted: Apr 01, 2019 10:55 PM EDT
Updated: Apr 02, 2019 09:02 AM EDT
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BARBOURSVILLE, WV (WOWK) - An Egyptian man has been arrested and charged with attempted abduction after a mother said he tried to grab her 5-year-old daughter at the Huntington Mall. Mohamed Fathy Hussein Zayan, 54, of Alexandria, Egypt, was booked at 12:55 AM on Tuesday, April 2nd, 2019.

Barboursville Mayor Chris Tatum tells us the incident at the mall happened between 6 PM and 7 PM on Monday, April 1st, 2019.   

The Barboursville Police Department says the woman called 911 telling dispatchers while she and her 5-year-old daughter were inside a department store a man tried to grab the child.  That’s when the mother told police she pulled out a gun scaring the man away.

She then told mall security about the incident.  Mall security and the Barboursville Police Department, using the woman’s description of the man, spotted him in the food court and took him into custody.

Police say Zayan spoke only Arabic, and a translator was contacted over the phone during the arraignment. ...
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Who goes from Egypt to Huntington, W.Va., to kidnap a child? Was he that desperate for a bride?


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Offline mountaineer

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Police  FB post:
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Barboursville Police Department
10 hrs

On 4-1-19 at approximately 6:17 PM a call was made to Cabell County 911 from a female inside the Huntington Mall. The female stated to 911 dispatchers that while she was in a department store, a suspect attempted to grab her 5 year old daughter. The female stated that she pulled out a firearm and the male suspect left the scene.

 The female stated that she then reported the incident to mall security. Mall security and officers from the Barboursville Police Department observed the male suspect, as described by female caller, walking near the Food Court and detained him.

 A statement was taken from the female and her child, and the male suspect was placed under arrest. The crime is still currently under investigation by the Barboursville Police Department. At this point in the investigation, detectives believe this was an isolated incident that was quickly controlled and no further danger to the public exists.
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Offline mountaineer

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Another TV news report:
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... The complaint says the suspect "grabbed the child by the hair and attempted to pull her away," and then the little girl "dropped to the floor with the male still pulling her away."

Police say the mother then pulled out a handgun and told the suspect to let go of the child. The mother told police the man then let go of the girl and ran out of the store into the mall.   ...
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Offline Sanguine

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Don't mess with WV moms.

Offline niobe527

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Why did the mom not put this guy 6 ft under?

Offline Restored

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Man: Hmm...this worked well at home. Clearly this infidel woman is over-protective.
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Offline mountaineer

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Why did the mom not put this guy 6 ft under?
Remarkable self-control, I must say!
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Offline mountaineer

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This is odd. Now she's supposedly semi-recanting, it was just a cultural misunderstanding.
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BARBOURSVILLE, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- UPDATE 4/2/19 @ 8:20 p.m.
A man from Egypt initially accused of attempting to kidnap a child from the Huntington Mall was released from jail Tuesday night after the child's mother changed her story, our crew at the scene reports.

Mohamed Fathy Hussein Zayan, who's an engineer, was emotional as he was released to his family waiting outside the Western Regional Jail -- openly crying with them.

The Egyptian consulate has been in touch with authorities in West Virginia about the overall incident.

A woman told Barboursville Police that Zayan tried to kidnap her 5-year-old daughter at the Huntington Mall on Monday. She also told police she pulled out a gun to scare the suspect away. The incident happened when the woman was shopping with her daughter in the Old Navy store a little after 6 p.m. Monday.

Police said Tuesday that the whole incident stemmed over a "cultural misunderstanding" when Zayan allegedly patted the girl on the head. The mother originally told police that a man tried to drag her daughter away by the hair. ...
WSAZ

Is he an engineer working in this country - without being able to speak English? Is it a big thing in Egyptian culture to go up to children and pat them on the head - when you're in another country where you don't speak the language? Would I do that if I were visiting Poland or Brazil, someplace where I don't speak the language?   :shrug:
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Offline sneakypete

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Police say the mother then pulled out a handgun and told the suspect to let go of the child. The mother told police the man then let go of the girl and ran out of the store into the mall.   ...


@mountaineer

SIGH.... HOW did she NOT know you never say "let go of the child!" until after the 3rd shot has scored a hit? Will people NEVER learn?
Anyone who isn't paranoid in 2021 just isn't thinking clearly!

Offline sneakypete

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This is odd. Now she's supposedly semi-recanting, it was just a cultural misunderstanding.WSAZ

Is he an engineer working in this country - without being able to speak English? Is it a big thing in Egyptian culture to go up to children and pat them on the head - when you're in another country where you don't speak the language? Would I do that if I were visiting Poland or Brazil, someplace where I don't speak the language?   :shrug:

@mountaineer

Translation,"The cash showed up".
Anyone who isn't paranoid in 2021 just isn't thinking clearly!

Offline Restored

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I thought the story sounded fishy. It's WV so it wouldn't surprise me if she flipped out because he patted the kids head or tugged at it.
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Offline mountaineer

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It's WV so it wouldn't surprise me  ...
Not sure what you mean by that. Wouldn't any mother - even non-West Virginians - be alarmed if an older man suddenly started touching her little girl's head? (I mean, other than Joe Biden, of course).
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Offline Sanguine

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Not sure what you mean by that. Wouldn't any mother - even non-West Virginians - be alarmed if an older man suddenly started touching her little girl's head? (I mean, other than Joe Biden, of course).

The one remaining acceptable bigotry is against "rednecks", and particularly rural, white people. 

Offline mountaineer

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The one remaining acceptable bigotry is against "rednecks", and particularly rural, white people.
I should have added, for the record, I don't get my knickers in a twist when people make fun of West Virginians. We're used to it. I wasn't being critical, @Restored , just didn't get your meaning.
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Offline Sanguine

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I should have added, for the record, I don't get my knickers in a twist when people make fun of West Virginians. We're used to it. I wasn't being critical, @Restored , just didn't get your meaning.

The problem is that it's so ubiquitous and widely accepted that we sometimes don't even see it.

Offline Restored

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I should have added, for the record, I don't get my knickers in a twist when people make fun of West Virginians. We're used to it. I wasn't being critical, @Restored , just didn't get your meaning.

When a truck pulls into the driveway with WV plates, the guns come out. It's always some gypsy paving company or meat seller or roofer and they are crooks  Note: My wife was born in Bluefield. My dad went to Marshall.
Virginia Tech had to quit the annual game with WV because the fans were throwing batteries at the visiting team.  VT fans were being attacked. They don't do that at Marshall. West Virginia just feeds the stereotype every chance it gets. Burning couches, meth heads, pain pill zombies, trailers on the side of a mountain, etc. WV pain docs even opened boxes in Va over in Wythe County. WV is a great state if you live there or nowhere near it. But if you live next to it, you can't help but have bad thoughts.
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Offline mountaineer

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Good grief. Sorry about the nothingburger, folks.
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Charges dropped in mall attempted abduction case; defense attorney says video shows no contact
By Jeff Jenkins in News | April 04, 2019 at 1:32PM

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Cabell County prosecutors dropped all charges Thursday against a man arrested earlier this week for the alleged attempted abduction of a five-year-old girl at the Huntington Mall.

Mohamed Zayan, a resident of Alexandria, Egypt, was arrested at the mall Monday night and charged with attempted abduction. Barboursville police arrested him in the food court after the girl’s mother claimed Zayan was pulling her daughter’s hair attempting to drag her away from the Old Navy store. The mother told police she pulled a gun and Zayan let go of the girl and ran away.

The mother told police Tuesday she may have overreacted. She said Zayan may have been patting her daughter on the head. She called it a cultural misunderstanding.  ...
Full story
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Offline sneakypete

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Good grief. Sorry about the nothingburger, folks.Full story

The mother told police Tuesday she may have overreacted. She said Zayan may have been patting her daughter on the head. She called it a cultural misunderstanding.  ...

@mountaineer

I call this a defense lawyer delivering a bag of cash.
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Offline mountaineer

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Could be. Hard to figure what a non-English-speaking engineer is doing in WV, of all places,  and why the woman so drastically changed her story.
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