Metro Police say what started as a trip to the store to buy candy took a terrifying turn when a 12-year-old girl was allegedly attacked by a man Friday morning in Old Hickory.

Friday night, police were calling the incident an apparent abduction attempt and were still looking for the man.

Concerned neighbors gathered outside the Discount Tobacco and Beer Market on the 3600 block of Old Hickory Blvd. Friday morning after hearing a young girl had been attacked by an unidentified man.

"He appeared to be mentally challenged in some way," said Shaun Rohweder, a
detective in the Youth Services Division.  "Multiple witnesses said
that they saw the subject."

Police said two 12-year-old girls and
one 10-year-old girl were buying candy at the store. Surveillance
images show the suspect, inside that same store at 10:42 a.m.

Police
said a few minutes later, outside the store, he allegedly grabbed one
of the 12-year-old girls and tried to drag her between two buildings.

Witnesses
said the store owner heard the commotion, rushed outside and yelled for
the man to leave her alone.  Witnesses said the suspect then let the
girl go and simply walked up the street as if nothing had happened.

"He
walked away just as casual as you'd walk out of a store," said Ricky
Linville, who works at the transmission repair center next door.  "Like
he didn't do anything wrong."

Linville said he caught up to the suspect and that the man seemed nervous and confused about what he had done.

"By
talking to him, he does have a mental problem," Linville said.  "He
told me he had medication but he didn't tell me he was taking his
medication."

Investigators said they weren't sure why the suspect
allegedly grabbed the girl or why he let her go and walked away so
suddenly but that she was lucky the incident ended the way it did.

"[The
suspect] can still commit a crime or kidnap a young child in this
scenario," Rohweder said.  "Fortunately enough, there were friends and
other people who witnessed that were able to stop it.  Otherwise there's
no telling what might have happened."

Linville said he did not
know the extent of the confrontation, when he talked to the suspect, and
because the girls had left the scene and police had not yet arrived, he
let the man go.

Police describe the suspect as a thin white
male, about 5'8 with brown hair in his late teens or early twenties.
 Metro Police ask anyone with information about this man to call 862-860012-Year-Old Girl Allegedly Attacked in Broad Daylight - Eric Alvarez