EL CAJON, CA (WCMH) – An 8-year-old girl used some moves she learned in self-defense class to fight off a would-be abductor.

The girl tells KGTV that she woke up to find a strange man picking her up and taking her downstairs.

She said she struck the man with a move called the “Cheetah’s Paw”, causing him to run away.

“I woke up, cheetah pawed him in the neck,” the girl told KGTV.

The girl’s parents believe the intruder made it inside by opening the window and removing a screen. The family has since added an alarm to the window.

She says she will be sleeping in her mom’s bed for the foreseeable future.What others are clicking on: