Woman Makes Terrified 911 Call Moments After Getting Away From Alleged Kidnapper

Authorities in Florida on Tuesday released audio of a terrified 911 caller reporting that she had been kidnapped at gunpoint and robbed late last month.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said the 911 call came in at 11:20 p.m. on Jan. 28. The caller asks for police to “please, please, please” hurry to the Motel 6 on the 9900 block of East Adamo Drive in Tampa, where she had briefly gotten away from her alleged kidnapper to call for help.

“I need somebody here right now,” the woman says, sounding frantic and out of breath. “This guy, he basically kidnapped me and he put a gun to my head and he robbed everything, and I have him on the phone right now because I told him I was running to my room to get all my money.”

After explaining the situation to the 911 dispatcher, she asks, “where are the police?”

“I have a lot of people coming right now, OK, I just need you to stay on the phone with me and tell me where you’re at and if you see him again,” the dispatcher says. “I don’t want you to put yourself in any danger though, OK. I want you to keep yourself as safe as possible.”

“I see him walking. I think I see him, I think I see him,” the frightened woman says.

“I want you to stay quiet then, OK?” the dispatcher says.

“I see the police,” the caller says.

Deputies arrived to learn she had left her phone in the suspect’s car, so they tracked the phone to locate the suspect, who then fled. Deputies and Florida Highway Patrol then followed the suspect’s vehicle until he crashed into an unrelated vehicle.

The suspect, identified as 26-year-old Elijah Silva El-Shabazz, was arrested and charged with armed kidnapping, two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, robbery with a firearm, aggravated fleeing to elude, tampering with physical evidence, felon in possession of a firearm, armed trafficking in fentanyl, leaving the scene of a crash with property damage, fleeing to elude high speed, and resisting an officer without violence.

In a video released by the sheriff’s office, the victim tells deputies she’s not from the area, and agreed to meet the suspect after meeting him online.

“We’re sitting in the car and everything’s cool, we’re getting to know each other a little bit, and then he literally pulls a gun out of the middle console and he’s like, give me everything you got,” she said. “He starts taking everything out of my pockets. He took my phone, my car keys, my watch. He took everything.”

After that, she says that El-Shabazz told her “I know you have money.” He spotted her motel key and took her back to the motel to retrieve money. She told him she had a boyfriend in the room so that he would stay outside, but he remained on a phone call to monitor her. Once she was away, she “clicked over” to call 911.

“This was a terrifying ordeal for the victim, one no one should ever have to endure. In her moment of fear, she found the strength to call for help, and our deputies wasted no time tracking down the suspect and removing this reckless criminal from our streets,” Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a statement. “We are grateful she is safe, and we will continue working tirelessly to protect our community from those who seek to do harm.”