Good Samaritan helps rescue child screaming for help in woods: ‘My instincts kicked in’

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. (WGXA) - A man in Georgia says his instincts took over when he heard a child screaming for help.

“I heard the kid screaming, ‘Please don’t beat me.’ And that’s when my instincts kicked in to get the kid,” Kelcey Willis said.

According to Willis, he heard the child screaming when he stopped for an oil change at a Warner Robins-area Walmart.

“We were getting an oil change when we heard a little kid screaming,” Willis said. “We turned and saw him [the child] getting snatched out of the car with a man taking him behind the building.”

The Georgia man said when the child kept screaming, he felt he had to take action.

“The screams kept getting louder and louder. That didn’t sit right with us,” Willis said. “My first instinct was to grab my gun and get that kid out of the woods.”

Once in the woods, Willis said he realized what danger the child was in.

“The man was on top of him choking the child,” Willis said. “At that point, I put my gun up and held him [the man] at gunpoint and grabbed the kid.”

Willis said he was one of several people that also joined him in rescuing the child and waited for the police to arrive.

Willis said he believes if he didn’t act that day the situation could have had a different ending.

“If I didn’t step in, the kid would probably be dead,” Willis said. “Once we got the kid out of the woods, he told us the man was going to beat him and leave him for the animals.”

Warner Robins police initially reported the incident as a kidnapping in progress. However, the department has changed that because it said the man and child are related.

According to police, the man has been charged with aggravated assault and cruelty toward a child.

Authorities said the child was taken to the Houston County Sheriff’s Office Juvenile Department for further evaluation and care after the incident.

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