WOODLAND, Calif. (KTXL) — A young girl, home alone, kept her cool while fighting off an intruder in Woodland, a city northwest of Sacramento.
“I heard like pounding. I thought it was knocking because I had my headphones in. And when I took my headphones off, I realized that somebody was actually trying to come into the house,” 12-year-old Nyletta Lincoln told NewsNation affiliate KTXL.
Lincoln was by herself at home around noon Friday when she said a strange man tried to bust open her front door.
“I grabbed my baseball bat and I walked into my living room and saw the lock was busted and he was trying to get in,” Lincoln recalled.
She said the man stopped what he was doing just for a moment.
“He said ‘Let me in.’ And I yelled ‘No!’ And I kicked the door into his face and so,” she said as her father, Paul Lincoln, chuckled at her description of the event.
“I was really scared. But I just knew, I knew he couldn’t come into the house and I knew just to protect my own house. I didn’t want to die. I didn’t want him stealing anything in my house. So, I protected it,” Lincoln explained.
Woodland police called Paul Lincoln to tell him what had happened and that she was alright.
“I left Big 5. I was buying her a throwing ax,” Paul Lincoln said through laughter.
Dad said police got to his home just in time.
“The chain just let go as soon as they were pulling up. And they were able to get here on time,” Paul Lincoln said. “Thank you, Woodland PD. We appreciate you.”
Woodland police Sgt. Victoria Danzl said officers, who were already in the area for a prowling call about two hours earlier, located the suspect outside of the Lincolns’ front door and arrested him.
“Surprising because it’s a really quiet neighborhood,” neighbor Paula Corral told KTXL. “We just don’t have those kind of things here. Now we’re locking our door.”
In November, police said the same suspect was arrested for prowling after he was found rummaging through trash in a resident’s yard.
“There are some similarities from the description to the subject and we’ll be following up on that,” Danzl said.
Paul Lincoln said his brave daughter was raised knowing a “fallback plan” and that if anyone would break-in, she’d know what to do.
“I’m proud of her. She’s my little Latina-Irish Viking and it’s in our blood. He picked the wrong house. He picked the wrong house with a tougher 12-year-old than me,” Paul Lincoln said with laughter.