Zoe was alone when she left home and headed to school on Thursday morning around 7:30 in the East Tremont section. When she got to East 176th Street, she sensed something was wrong and did what her parents taught her.
"I see this man following me, so I move to one side and he went with me to the other side, so I walked faster," she said.
The middle schooler hoped the man would go away, but he didn't-he got in front of her.
"He said, 'Give me that goddamn chain,' and took my chain. He snatched it off," Zoe said.
There are still markings on Zoe's neck. She says she only wore the gold chain with her initial as a pendant on special occasions. She had gone to a baby shower last weekend and forgot to take it off. It was a necklace she got just a few years ago.
"My uncle and dad gave it to me for my birthday," she says.
Zoe will never forget the slap. The suspect also took her school ID. Her mother, Amelia Cueto, said she is furious someone would target her little girl.
"I don't know what I would say to him, but I would definitely smack him the way he smacked my daughter," Cueto said.
Zoe says she had been pushing her parents to let her make the short three-minute walk to school alone, and that day she did. Her grandfather is now walking with her.
As for the suspect, Zoe's dad told Eyewitness News that police 'better catch him before he does.'
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