Cleveland, OH

A Lorain County man is behind bars, accused of trying to abduct a six year old girl right in front of her school and directly across the street from the Lorain police department.

“The one teacher that I work with was in the parking lot very hysterical, screaming and yelling, there was another gentleman by her car yelling at her,” said teaching assistant Jenny Limpert who was arriving at work at the time of the incident.

Lorain police say the attempted abduction happened around 8:00 a.m. Monday at the Lorain Community School, located in the City Center building downtown.

A teacher at the school was taking three children, ages 5 and 6 to school. She says a man, identified by police as William Metcalf, 34, tried to grab one of the six year olds. “She just said please get him away from the van, get him away from the van, the kids are in the van,” said Limpert. Limpert says the teacher had locked the kids inside the van and was blowing the horn to get attention.

Jenny Limpert says she grabbed her cell phone to call police, but the man started to run. Limpert chased him. “That’s when he started running and so I ran after him, behind him because I just needed to be able to tell the police like where he went because I knew if I didn’t watch where he went, we weren’t gonna get him,” she said.

Police say the man ran across the street, into the parking lot of the police department where officers arrested Metcalf. “He has a history with us dating back to when he was a juvenile, some minor problems then, he’s been transported for psychiatric evaluations by us on at least two ocassions,” says Lorain police Sgt. Mark Carpentiere.

Melisa Shady, principal of Lorain Community School sent a letter home informing parents about what happened. She commends the actions of both teachers. “The detectives spoke with us and said the one teacher who got the kids safe in the car, locked the doors and were honking the horns, did exactly the right thing,” says Shady.

Metcalf is being held at the Lorain County jail.