TARRANT, Alabama -- A newly released 911 call reveals the terrifying moments two young siblings - just 9 and 10 years old - called 911 after an armed gunman broke into their Alabama home.
The robber forced little Erik Francisco and his sister Onayda at gunpoint into the bathroom, but didn't realize Erik snuck in a cellphone.
In the call, little Onayda tells emergency dispatchers in Tarrant, Alabama, that she and Erik are hiding in the bathroom as the invader roams their home.
'I'm really scared," she tells the dispatcher.
The dispatcher responds calmly, "Okay, the police are coming in the back door. You're eventually going to hear us say 'police', okay?"
"My puppy's down in his cage and he's barking at him," Onayda says.
"Your puppy is? Ok. Stay on the line with me. The police are there," says the dispatcher.
As police surround the home, the dispatcher tells the children to lie in the bathtub or on the bathroom floor, telling them not to open the door.
After some commotion, the girl can be heard crying as she tells responding officers, "Thank you very much."
After officers made entry into the home, the suspect jumped out of a bedroom window and ran into a crawl space under the house, police said.
Both children were taken safely from the home, and the suspect, identified as 26-year-old Christopher Rian McGhee, was taken into custody.
Authorities are now calling the kids heroes and rewarding them with gifts.
"I haven't see that type of bravery in a long, long time," said Desiree Fitts, the 911 dispatcher.
Earlier this week, officers from the Tarrant Police Department presented the children with Christmas presents, ABC Birmingham affiliate WBMA reported.
Erik and Onayda Francisco were "surprised" by the gesture, they said. While Onayda "started crying," both children told the station how grateful they were for the officers.
"First they saved us, and now they're donating Christmas," Erik said. "My parents can't really afford gifts, so I'm happy for that."