HOUSTON -- A 14-year-old girl was kidnapped and sexually assaulted while walking to a southeast Houston school, investigators told KPRC Local 2 Monday.

Houston police said the child was walking to Albert Thomas Junior High School along Anna Held Street when she saw a man walking on South Acres Drive on April 2 at about 9 a.m.

The girl told investigators that the man stopped her at the corner of South Acres Drive and 8th Street and asked her how to get to Sandpiper Street. The student told police she answered the man and continued walking.

Detectives said the man approached the girl from behind, grabbed her, pointed a gun at her and told her to keep walking.

The girl tried to wrestle with the man at one point, police said, but he overpowered her.

Investigators said the girl was dragged onto the property of a nearby church and inside an abandoned storage shed. The man showed the girl a gun, sexually assaulted her and walked away, police said.

"This attack was random, and the suspect we are looking for is very dangerous because he saw an opportunity. Everything this little girl is telling us is establishing that she is telling the truth," said Officer Hollie Whillock with the Houston Police Department.

The girl told investigators that the man was black, 40 to 45 years old, 5 feet 10 inches to 6 feet tall with a muscular build. The man has a dark complexion, is bald and has a crooked right front tooth, police said.

Investigators said they believe he lives in the neighborhood because he knew the location of the shed.

Parents were angry when they heard about the attack.

"He'd been dead if it were one of mine," a resident said.

Parents are urged to walk their children to and from school in groups for safety.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Houston Police Department Juvenile Division at 713-731-5353 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.