Miami police arrested a man allegedly connected to the kidnapping, sexual assault, and shooting of a 12-year-old boy.
Aliex Santiesteban, 43, was detained and taken into custody around 3 a.m. Tuesday, the Miami-Dade Police Department wrote in a statement.
The boy was hospitalized on Saturday and in critical condition, according to the department. The boy was in stable condition by Monday but was still suffering from severe pain, Detective Adalberto Fuentes said.
On Friday, the child left his house around midnight and walked three miles to a friend’s house in the city, police said.
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He left the house early Saturday and was approached by an unknown male driving a black sedan near Brownsville. The man in the vehicle allegedly grabbed the boy and forced him into it, driving off a short distance before placing him in the back of the car and sexually assaulting him.
After the assault, the boy began struggling with the alleged attacker and was shot in the face, Fuentes said Monday in a video posted to social media.
“The victim is very lucky,” Fuentes said. “The shot went through his jaw and exited his head. A couple of inches in either direction could have killed him right there on the spot.”
The man pushed the boy out of the car, leaving him in the road before fleeing in an unknown direction, police said.
A bystander found the boy shouting for help and brought him to a nearby store to call the police.
“He was walking the street hollering for help. ‘Help, help, somebody help me, please.’ He was all bloody,” the bystander told police in the video. “I asked him what happened, and he said he was raped.”
Santiesteban is facing multiple charges, including attempted felony murder, sexual battery with a deadly weapon, and kidnapping a child younger than 13.
It was not immediately clear when a hearing would be scheduled for the suspect.
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The Washington Examiner reached out to the Miami-Dade Police Department but did not immediately receive a response.
