San Jose Police Arrest Suspect in Attempted Sexual Assault Caught on Surveillance Video
Police: Man caught on video trying to assault 13-year-old in her home.
— -- Police in San Jose, California, arrested a man accused of trying to sexually assault a 13-year-old girl as she returned home from school.
Police arrested Mohammad Khaliqi on Friday and charged him with several counts of burglary, attempted sexual assault, and false imprisonment.
Authorities had been searching for Khaliqi, 31, since Tuesday when police say his attempted assault on the 13-year-old was caught on a home surveillance camera.
In the video, a man can be seen trailing the girl as she makes her way home. He approaches her on the front step of her house and then forces his way into the girl's home through the door.
Police said he attempted to sexually assault her in the foyer. In the video, she fights back, pushing the attacker away and slamming her hand into his face. After stopping and a brief pause, the man runs out of the house.
The teenager said she first noticed the man when he approached her on the front porch. She said he explained that he was lost and then asked her name and age. She said he then proceeded to ask her inappropriate questions.
"That's when I decided to run inside the house because [I'd] already unlocked it," the middle-school student told ABC affiliate KGO-TV in San Jose. "I tried to slam the door on him but I couldn't."
The teen - whose family asked that she not be identified - said that after she pushed the man away, she looked for something sharp or heavy to throw at him in case he came after her again.
Instead, he left and she hid in the closet, sending her father a text: "Daddy, come home now. Some guy tried to rape me." Her father called 911.
The victim's family said they felt relieved an arrest was made.
Police said Khaliqi was charged in another alleged sexual assault that took place in April when he followed a 28-year-old woman into a grocery store restroom and attempted to assault her.
Khaliqi was being held on no bail, according to jail records. An attorney for him was not listed.