An eight-year-old Ohio girl has gone viral for taking herself on a Target run for the ages – and now her mother is speaking out.
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According to Cleveland’s ABC affiliate, Zoe Wilson took her mother’s 2020 Nissan Rogue out in the early morning hours of September 15. A neighbor’s Ring camera captured the young girl getting behind the wheel and driving off.
After Zoe and the car were reported missing, police officers eventually found the young girl inside a Target store ten miles away from her home in Bainbridge, Ohio, where employees say she walked in ready to shop with over 400 dollars.
Although dash cam footage from another car on the road shows Zoe swerving in and out of lanes, fortunately, no one was injured in the incident. Cleveland’s News 5 reports Zoe admitted to hitting a mailbox on her way to the store, however she was not criminally charged due to her age. Police made the store give the money Zoe spent back to the family.
“I still haven’t had time to process it mentally,” Zoe’s mom, Tangie Wilson told The New York Times in an interview. “It was very stressful, very exhausting — mentally, physically, emotionally.”
Ms. Wilson told The New York Times that Zoe decided to leave home with her car keys, wallet and ID because she was upset about a conflict she’d had with her older sister the night before. Zoe also had a partner in crime – the family dog Bear who went along for the early morning joy ride.
Wilson added that Zoe didn’t know where she was going when she left in the car, but when she accidentally cracked her iPad on the way out, she decided to go to the Target store to replace it.
When asked if Zoe was punished for her behavior, Tangie Wilson told The New York Times:
“I spoke to her and reassured her that I loved her and how I wouldn’t want anything to happen to her and how dangerous and big the situation was. But when we did go places moving forward, if she wanted a slushy from the store, I would tell her no as a consequence.”
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