Watch: Mom Thwarts Kidnapping At Dollar General Store

HERNANDO, Fla. — A determined mother and an off-duty deputy are getting the credit for saving a 13-year-old girl from a would-be abductor Tuesday morning.

According to the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office, the incident unfolded just before noon at the 2560 N. Trucks Ave. Dollar General store in Hernando. Deputies say a man inside the store grabbed a “13-year-old, petite female who was shopping with her mother.”

As the man tried to run out of the store with the girl in his arms, the mother caught him and grabbed onto her daughter, an email from the sheriff’s office said. A tug-of-war between the two erupted with the sound of screaming audible throughout the store. The mother hung onto the child for dear life as the man kept attempting to pull her away, store surveillance video showed.

After making such a commotion, the man let go of the child and ran out of the store, the email said. As fate would have it, off-duty Deputy Jonathan Behnen just happened to pull up in his cruiser right around that time.

“Behnen had been to court earlier in the morning and had stopped at the store to grab supplies when he encountered the running suspect,” the sheriff's office explained.

The store’s manager alerted Behnen to the attempted kidnapping, sparking the deputy to spring into action, the agency reported. Behnen quickly pulled his patrol car in front of the man’s vehicle as he was trying to leave the parking lot. Behen then got out of his cruiser, pulled his gun and ordered the man out of his car, the email said.

Craig Bonello, 30, was brought into custody and charged with one count of kidnapping and one count of child abuse, the agency noted.

"In my 10 years on the road I have never seen anything like this," Sgt. Craig Callahan said from the scene. "He truly intended to abduct this child right in front of everyone in the store."

Deputies say the mother and daughter were not injured in the attack, but they were rattled. Their names are not being released.

As for Behnen, he is “a bona fide hero today," said Capt. Ricky Grant. "If it weren't for him, this guy would have gotten away."

Bonello, as it turned out, was no stranger to the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office. He was last arrested in February on trespassing charges, the agency said. He’s also been arrested on a number of misdemeanor charges in the past and a 2009 aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer charge.

Bonello’s intentions with the child remain unknown, the agency noted in its email.

"This was a chaotic scene with a lot at stake," said Commander Buddy Grant. "Thank goodness the girl's mother jumped into action to prevent this man from kidnapping her daughter.”

Bunello was being held without bond in the Citrus County Jail Wednesday.

Booking photo and video courtesy of the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office