Update 4/7: Mother Faces Jail Time
When I initially posted this story, I praised a mom for having what appeared to be the courage to protect her daughter using a firearm. But the truth is entirely different and her actions were anything but heroic.
It turns out that the security cameras at the Huntington Mall did not tell the same story as Santana Adams, the mother who “bravely” shared her story about saving her 5-year-old daughter from a possible predator with the gun she was carrying.
Hero mom thwarts predator with gun: That’s what appeared to be the case when the accused man, Mohamed Fathy Hussein Zayan, was thrown in jail. Zayan is an Egyptian here on a work visa.
But the case against him quickly began to unravel.
First, the mom told investigators that on second thought, maybe the whole thing was a “cultural misunderstanding.” Maybe the guy had just been trying to pat her daughter’s head.
By Tuesday, Zayan was released from the Western Regional Jail, weeping openly as he was greeted by his co-workers.
By Thursday night he was a free man, after the prosecutor dismissed all charges. Hammers had reviewed the evidence, including surveillance video of the two shoppers calmly leaving the store at slightly different times, going in opposite directions. When Zayan had been arrested later that evening at the mall’s food court he’d been completely stunned and confused. He’d actually been at Old Navy to shop for his own daughter. His public defender, Michelle Protzman, vowed to make sure the case is expunged.
By Friday afternoon the tables had completely turned and Adams found herself facing charges for accusing Zayan of a crime that did not happen. Possible penalties are a $500 fine and sixth months in jail. (source)
Adams is now facing charges and potential jail time for accusing a man of a crime that never happened.
Why would someone do such a horrible thing? Lenore Skenazy of Reason.com has some thoughts on that matter.
Update 4/2: Mother Recants
Most of the charges against the man are expected to be dropped after the woman recanted her story that the man tried to abduct her child at the Huntington Mall, according to an update posted by wsaz.com:
In her original story, the mom told police the suspect “grabbed the child by the hair and attempted to pull her away,” and then the little girl “dropped to the floor with the male still pulling her away.”
Later, the woman told investigators that the whole situation could have been a “cultural misunderstanding” and that the man may have just been patting her daughter on the head.
Investigators say it’s possible that Zayan could still face a battery charge. They say it’s not clear if the woman will face any charges. The Barboursville Police chief said that’s for the prosecutor to determine.(source)
That’s quite a mistake for the story to go from “dragging her off by the hair” to “he was just patting her on the head.”
For reference, you can find my original report below.
***Original Report from April 1***
A woman and her daughter were shopping at a mall in West Virginia a week ago, when she told the following story.
She was shopping at the Huntington Mall in Barboursville, a small town in West Virginia with a population of about 4000 people. Suddenly, she reported that a man grabbed her five-year-old daughter by the hair and began dragging her off.
According to the criminal complaint, a mother was shopping with her daughter in the Old Navy store a little after 6 p.m. when the suspect approached them.
The complaint says the suspect “grabbed the child by the hair and attempted to pull her away,” and then the little girl “dropped to the floor with the male still pulling her away.”
Police say the mother then pulled out a handgun and told the suspect to let go of the child. The mother told police the man then let go of the girl and ran out of the store into the mall.
Mohamed Fathy Hussein Zayan, 54, of Alexandria, Egypt, was arraigned at the Cabell County Courthouse late Monday night…
…Barboursville police are investigating and believe this is an isolated incident, and no further danger to the public exists.
The suspect’s bond was set at $200,000.
The magistrate says he’ll have to surrender his passport and stay in West Virginia.
An Arabic-speaking interpreter was used on the phone at the arraignment.
The suspect’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 8. (source)
But, as we know now, that isn’t what happened at all.
Just a very good thing it was not my wife or one of my daughters. They have a habit of pumping of two or three rounds every time the pull their guns. This guy would be pushing up daisies by now. If he was lucky, if not they would have stomped him to death while they waited on the police to show.
There is no way the MSM will cover this, especially given the clearly obvious child trafficking angle involved. Thou shalt not speak ill of the Religion of Peace™.
Of course he was an Arab-speaker from NA/ME area. Don’t expect to see this on CNN? How about any TV media at all? I haven’t seen it yet.
Having spent much time living and doing business in the southern and eastern Med, it is not surprising at all, that this occurred. I have friends who are of Arab descent, but in most cases I have to assume the worst when involved in some like situation from people in that demographic. It is always better to behave in a restrained, non-trusting way, and that’s from experience.
I too have spent many hours with People of Arab/Muslim cultural areas of the world. Like Jasmine I stay aloof and on my toes always. Mystery, intrigue, and violence is very much a part of the the culture!
Off Topic but but you ARE Preppers:
Whenever they nasally whine “You don’t NEED a “Weapon of WAR”” read this to them:
WE pay for THEIR prepping….. as they attack Our RIGHT to keep a semi-automatic rifle
I’d like to point out …. In order to “feel safe” the politicians “need” 7,000+ nuclear warheads ,,, at least 11 aircraft carrier battle groups and hundreds more ships , how many multiBillion$ F35s, how many Troops “under arms” and tanks, tanks beyond counting. The government is spending $700BILLION every year on GUNS. The Liars swear we are “imminent danger” of being overrun by Barbarian Hordes and that we should be terrified and give Them all the money they want, to buy every concievable weapon …..But we are “crazy” to want semiauto weapons to defend ourselves …….. then it surrounds it’s self with 24/7 ARMED bodyguards and WALLS, WALLS, WALLS for THEM, but you are a racist bigot for wanting a wall . …. and even THAT is not enough as they constantly tell they need MORE weapons and BIGGER weapons ….. then tells YOU that YOU are crazy for wanting semiauto weapons …… “they” have hidden bunkers, stocked with tons of food, medical supplies, equipment, all paid for by YOU, but you will not be welcome inside ….. but YOU are a NUT-CASE for prepping.
Every year THEY are spending $23,400 (borrowed at interest) PER American on GUNS ….. but YOU are the crazy.
Dear Organic Prepper,
The mother must not have understood the vibrancy of diversity that her daughter was about to experience. Clearly, the mother is a xenophobic Islamophobe to have reacted so negatively to the cultural norm of poor Mr. Zayan. My heart goes out to Mr. Zayan for being treated so badly by a neo-Nazi White Supremacist.
Yours truly,
Concerned Social Justice Warrior
The only thing wrong is she didn’t shoot the bastard in the head and save the taxpayers of West Virginia the money it’s going to cost to keep this pedophile locked up.
She should have just killed the SOB. All would have been well.
ASSUME , The distance between you and your firearm.
Some will get it right. The dead won’t.
So it turns out it was another overreactive white supremacist with a gun :
Most charges against a man from Egypt are expected to be dropped after a woman recanted her story that the man tried to abduct her child at the Huntington Mall.
So are you numbnuts going to recant your story or keep it up to fan the winds of white supremacist hatred ?
I think we may have been updating at the same time you commented. Thanks for letting us know!
I hope she shot him in the balls and then both knees before rising to the shoulders and finally center mass!~
Thanks Daisy for a very well written and timely article. I point out to my wife and daughters that a firearm is just a tool, but it’s also a force multiplier that levels the playing field between the intended victim and their assailant. There seems to be something “fishy” about the Mother recanting her story though. How can anyone mistake “patting a child on the head” with pulling their body by their hair? IT sounds like the assailant from Egypt may have some powerful and influential friends that convinced the Mother to change her story.
That being said, I believe that an armed society is a polite society.
UPDATE 4/2/19 @ 4:50 p.m.
Most charges against a man from Egypt are expected to be dropped after a woman recanted her story that the man tried to abduct her child at the Huntington Mall.
The incident happened when the woman was shopping with her daughter in the Old Navy store a little after 6 p.m. Monday.
In her original story, the mom told police the suspect “grabbed the child by the hair and attempted to pull her away,” and then the little girl “dropped to the floor with the male still pulling her away.”
Later, the woman told investigators that the whole situation could have been a “cultural misunderstanding” and that the man may have just been patting her daughter on the head.
Thanks – we updated the story.
That’s an awfully big misunderstanding, isn’t it?
It’s good that you amended your article, shows you care about truth. The number I heard was 400,000 per year, that is the number of times an armed person who would have been a victim was able to avoid being a victim because they were armed. That is 400,000 people who are not mugged, robbed, molested, raped or murdered.
The number of firearm homicides a year is about 11,000. Of these 400 or so are “mass murders”, 1100 are police killings, 1300 are domestic abusers killing their victims, and the majority of the remaining are members of gangs or people involved in illegal drugs. As you can see, 400 vs. 400,000 are the numbers we should be concentrating on, but of course, we do not own the MSM, so most people will never see that side of the story.
It is amazing to me that on the 5 or so sites I saw this story, TOP is the only one that updated it with the truth, which speaks very well of Daisy, but not so well for the others. We have to do better, we can not allow ourselves to have the same lazy, dishonest tactics of the MSM. I get it, everyone wants to run a pro 2A story, everyone wants to get it out there first, but when we blow it like this, we end up on the MSM as crazy gun nuts, preppers and conspiracy theorists and just reinforce the general public’s disdain for our community.
The woman seems to have greatly overreacted based on fear of a stereotype. She should be charged with brandishing a firearm at a minimum and threatening someone’s life more probably. Carrying concealed is a big responsibility and not everyone is stable and even headed enough to do so. We need to all calm down and use our brains. Just because the KKK is protestant, not all protestants are racists. Just because the Sicilian mafia is Catholic, doesn’t mean all Catholics are organized crime. Just because jihadists are Muslims, does not mean all Muslims are jihadists. Think people.
Thank you for your kind words. We strive to be truthful and accurate to the best of our ability. In fact, the reason we left the original story up was that there were so many links in and we wanted to be sure people got the correct information when they clicked.
So the occasional example, where guns may have saved somebody, totally cancels out the thousands of mass shootings every year?
Oh, I got it.
Thousands of mass shootings every year???? Where are you getting your statistics, pray tell?
The “there are thousands of mass shootings every year,” thing is a gun-grabber made up statistic.
According to them, at anytime there is 3 or more people involved in a shooting, it is a “mass shooting.”
Nor do they exclude gang-related violence.
Who cares. Do you know who kills more people than guns ? DOCTORS. Over 250000 people per year. Occasional example of guns saving someone ? How many gun owners report an attack if the criminal runs off. Unknown. You might want to watch a YouTube channel called Active Self Protect to get a REAL understanding of what goes on it the world and how gun owners PROTECT themselves from CRIMINALS and use the robbers gun on the robber or use their own weapon on them . Shoot to kill not shoot to wound. Stop the threat with a force multiplier. DEAD. How about more gun free zone signs ? Would that make you feel better and safer ? Or more of a dimwit sitting duck. Open your eyes , it’s called situational awareness. Or go on thinking the “police’ will protect you , which they have NO responsibility to do so. Look that up in the Supreme Court rulings over and over.
I was wondering why you didn’t update the article? As it turns out, she lied on the police report….she assaulted the poor guy because of racial profiling.
I guess you wouldn’t update this because it doesn’t “support” your angle.
Dear Mike B – I’m not sure what you mean. I did update the article. Last night we reported that the accused had been released after the mother recanted the story. The headline was also changed.
Somebody got to her.
I wonder what the threat is?
Like creepy uncle Joe. He just wanted to smell her hair, totally normal behavior. I touch the children of strangers all the time NOT.
well now that this new info has come out, she is in trouble or is she.? she can now use the jussie defense and just have to pay a fine and not serve time. right?
I’m a little surprised by the widespread racism. You’d think that a group of people that are often ostracized and derided for being “crazy preppers” would be less judgmental.
It did happen in the south. See what I did there?
should have done this in s**t-cago, could call non-racist crime-esha fixit
This is one of those cases…well almost every case nowadays, where you have to wait a week to know the story. And we still dont really know the story, all we know is a theory that “social media syndrome” caused this woman to do this.
I feel very bad for the guy. Where he comes from the government can “disappear” a man suddenly, he must have been terrified to be arrested, apparently out of the blue. I hope his time here allows him to know most Americans arent like what it appears this woman is…”Nuts”.
We really dont know what the woman’s deal is. In my opinion, she has to be unstable and probably shouldn’t have custody of her own daughter. I think the commenters here crying “white supremacism” are just stupid Leftist indoctrinates. The U.S. is not crawling with White Supremacists any more than Climate Change nutjobs who think the planet wont be habitable in 12 years. Yes, we do have some of both types of freaks, but they are not in large numbers.
There ARE cultural differences. Middle eastern men mostly still come from a totally male dominated society while in America men have been feminized or at least leashed and held away from their primal instincts. In the west, we are not allowed to tell the truth…like telling a woman you dont know, that her daughter is beautiful for instance. Americans are mostly aware that this kind of harmless honest statement can set off a firestorm. A middle Eastern man is simply doing what comes natural, recognizing a female child as beautiful and honestly assessing that she will likely grow to be a beautiful woman. In the west, THAT can be considered “sexual assault”.
Hopefully this guy has learned a lesson and someone can give him some relative understanding. He comes from a place where for some, every strand of a woman’s hair is considered daggers through the heart when exposed/not covered, and shaking with the wrong hand can be a major cultural insult. Framing the insanity it appears he encountered along with the insanity from his own lands could help him understand what just happened to him.
I looks as though the 3rd rate black actor from Chicago will just walk away and even sue the city.
But-But-But he’s “special”.
Of course there are different meanings to the word “special”.
In the Eighties, I walked about a mile through town to my store and home six days a week. When I passed kids playing in their yards or on the sidewalk, I’d comment on the dolls, or ask for them to throw me the ball so I could throw it back, or engage in other similar brief play interaction as I was going past. I then sold my business and left the country for reasons not germane to this story. But I had noticed that things were going socially downhill, with lots of day care workers being falsely accused of child molestation and ending up in jail. A new movement in the flawed pseudo-profession of psychology (they still have little idea what they’re doing, though they continue to harvest vast sums in the process of demonstrating their ineptitude) had discovered the notion of some psycho-analytical-induced-fabrication and would take kids and manipulate them into making up stories accusing their caregivers of sexual abuse.
By the time I returned a few years later, there had been a lot of headlines about all these fabricated abuses, huge volumes of psychotic activity. I still remember that one retired executive as a lark took a job as a school crossing guard so he could greet his grand-daughter every day. He was warm and friendly, and as other kids saw him hugging his grand-daughter, some of them ran up and hugged him also. (Leaves you wondering about their parents’ attentions…). One mother filed formal charges accusing him of child molestation, his open actions right there in the street suggesting to her that he was secretly a villain rather than just a nice guy. He was eventually vindicated, but not before suffering enormous public humiliation.
Since then I no longer even talk to kids unless their parents are right there. And after reading this story, I may even stop doing that.