Good Samaritan stops attempted kidnapping of teen in Fort Myers

A witness says he was at work when he heard a girl screaming in a back alley.

“She was basically telling them to get away and to leave her alone and she was just trying to get away from the scene so she wouldn’t get hurt anymore,” the man said, who wishes to remain anonymous.

He said he saw men grabbing the teen and trying to get her in their cars as she yelled for help. So he shouted at them and they took off.

“The girl came up to me, saying that they put a gun to her head and saying they were going to kill her. She didn’t have a phone with her so she asked to use my phone,” he said.

The 19-year-old girl told Lee County deputies that she was walking home from Coronado High School when Peterson Merisier and another teenager got out of a car and told her to get in. She says Merisier put a gun to her forehead.

“It’s just really messed up that bullying happens everyday,” the witness said.

The victim told deputies Merisier and the 18-year-old who was with him go to school with her. Merisier claimed to be upset that the girl made fun of the size of his lips. He also claimed there was no gun and no argument.

“I didn’t see a gun, but the first thing that she told me was there was a gun pointed to her head and she was going to die and they were going to kill her if they ever see her again,” the witness said.

Merisier is still behind bars facing a battery charge and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.