Teen Girl a Hero for Saving Brother From Abduction Attempt, Police Say

A 13-year-old girl has been called a hero by police after she saved her little brother from an alleged abduction attempt at their Ames, Iowa, home.

The teenage girl woke early Friday "to some commotion in the basement," Ames Police Department PIO Jason Tuttle told ABC News today.

She heard her little brother yelling for help and found a suspect pulling the boy -- who police said is under 10 years old -- through a basement window, Tuttle said.

"She approached the suspect in the front yard, then [the suspect] let go of him and took off running," Tuttle said.

The suspect had "struck the little boy in the face several times," Tuttle said. The boy was hospitalized for minor injuries, including a bloody nose and swelling to his face, and later released.

Tuttle said the boy "is pretty traumatized by what happened."

The suspect, identified as 17-year-old Akuk Akok of Ames, was located by police and taken to two medical facilities for mental health evaluations, police said. Akok was in a medical facility today and will be taken into custody when he's released, Tuttle said.

Tuttle says the teen girl is "a hero in this situation."

"We don't know exactly what [Akok's] intentions were ... he wouldn't say much to us," Tuttle said.

"You can only imagine why someone would go into someone's house at 1 in the morning and try to steal a child from a house," he added. "So we really do think the sister prevented her brother from either being harmed further or potentially saved his life."

Police filed an arrest warrant for Akok for first-degree burglary. This is a forcible felony, so he'll be charged as an adult, police said.

Further charges are pending through juvenile court, police added.