Mom, 7-year-old safe after girl escapes Detroit carjacking

A 7-year-old girl escaped with her life as her mom chased after a carjacker, believing her daughter was in the car. 

Assbehei Theus thought her daughter was inside her van as a thief drove it away from the Valero station on Dexter. Theus said she stopped on Tuesday and ran inside to get some snacks. 

"Parked my car to get $10 dollars in gas and two chips for my kids," Theus said.

Child escapes minivan moments before thief drives off from Detroit gas station

She left her 7-year-old daughter, Sylve, inside her van while she ran inside. That's when a man jumped into the driver's seat and pulled away.

Theu was screaming and running towards the van, but little Sylve, who was in the back seat, was thinking quick.

"He was starting to get in the car and I went out the car and went inside the gas station," Sylve said. "That's called stealing."

As Sylve hopped out, her mom chased the van. She never saw her daughter get out of the van.

Gas station clerk Musab Quasem was watching the commotion and ran out to scoop up the little girl.

"Honestly, all I wanted to do was save that girl. That's the only thing going through my mind at that moment," Quasem said.

After that van pulled away, that mother jumped into someone else's car and followed it. She lost the car and returned to the gas station 35 minutes later. 

Sylve was safe inside the whole time.

"She was crying. She just wanted her mom back. We tried to calm her down, we gave her candy and a phone to play with," Quasem said.

Theus called her daughter and her mind was spinning until she was reunited with her little girl.

"The girl just ran to her mom yelling her name. I almost cried. I felt like I was watching a movie," Quasem said. 

Detroit Police describe the thief as a medium complected black man, about six feet two inches tall wearing tan work boots. Little Sylve got a good look.

"It was a man with sunglasses with jeans and they were ripped. No shirt. He had a yellow shirt but he didn't actually wear it," Sylve said.

Detroit police have been unable to track down the van, or that man, for now.