Police are searching the city for a man wanted in an attempted abduction of a nine-year-old girl, only steps from her home in west-end Toronto.
The man had followed the girl and walked into her apartment building before he was chased away by a cousin, family members say.
The ordeal began at around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday as the young girl and her aunt were shopping at the Price Chopper located at Jane Street and Sheppard Avenue.
According to family, the man attempted to take the girl's hand and lead her away, but the girl managed to break free from his grasp.
However, the incident didn't end there, as CTV Toronto's Jim Junkin reported.
Later, the man followed the girl and her aunt by car to the family's apartment on Chalk Drive in North York and even followed the girl up into her apartment.
By that time, a cousin intervened and chased the man downstairs and out into the apartment building's parking lot.
"I teared off his shirt right here," said the cousin, pointing to the courtyard. "He got away over there."
The suspect was driving a silver Toyota sedan from the late 1990s. He's described as a heavy white male in 50s.
The suspect has balding brown hair, a moustache and a small goatee. He also wears glasses.
