A story of an attempted kidnapping.

[Charlemagne]

A friend of mine just shared this, and I thought worth spreading around. It's scary as heck, and every parent's fear, but it's better to have knowledge of how they operate (at least one of the ways).

- Names redacted to preserve privacy.

EDIT- FULL STORY- last night around 5:30pm My mother in law, sister in law, XXXX and myself all went to SAMS to get a few things and I was getting diapers and wipes for XXXX's daycare. We did our shopping, checked out and sat down to eat pizza at the little SAMS cafe thing. XXXX was strapped into the buggy because he had a new tub of cheese balls and wasn’t interested in pizza. The buggy was right next to me and XXXX was touching me so he was never out of my reach (because I know things like this are common and I’m always aware of my surroundings). So we are finishing our food and XXXX and I were giving each other kisses and playing before we got up to leave. I looked behind my mother in law (she was facing me) and noticed a man behind her (facing me) taking pictures of XXXX. Anyone that knows me know I DO NOT play when it comes to my child and automatically got mad and made it clear I knew what he was doing. He quickly got up, refilled his drink and set the drink on a table maybe 3 tables down on the next row. I watched him quickly walk down an aisle and grab 2 packs of toothpaste ( totaling like 6 tubes of toothpaste?) then I watched him check out and leave and I kept eyes on him at all times. I wanted to keep him in front of me so i knew where he was at all times (being aware of my surroundings) a young man that was emptying trash knew what was happening and walked in front of me and notified me there were 2 men standing outside (one being the man taking the pictures of XXXX) standing at the back of a running vehicle. The original man had his back to me when I walked out but the guy he was talking to had eyes on me from the moment I stepped out of the store to the time I got to the car. I love quickly put XXXX in his car seat while my mother in law loaded the groceries. I told her to lock the doors when she got in. I watched the second guy walk into the store after talking to the original guy so I followed him in to alert a manager of what was happening. As soon as I walked in the guy was at a checkout line buying a pack of Gatorade and we held eye contact from the time I walked in the store to the minute I was out of sight. XXXX was on his way home with my mother in law and out of the city of Kenner ( YYYY was at home waiting for them to make sure they weren’t being followed) before the police arrived (they had amazing arrival time). I told the cop everything and he confirmed every parents worst fear. He said it’s a classic move. The man in the store was sending pics to the guy outside so he knew who to look for when we walked out. He explained they were waiting for me to get distracted putting the groceries in the car and pull up and do a “snatch and grab”. The officer also told me there was a very similar incident that had taken place right before and it was RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET!!! I’ve had many people come forward with similar stories. People need to be aware of their surrounding because I know how easily distracted we can get especially dealing with a toddler. Please people be aware of your surroundings and WATCH YOUR CHILDREN!!!!!

 

[jks9199]

Was this a personal experience, or something your friend came across on the internet?

By far, most child abductions are instances of custodial interference, where a parent (or someone acting on their behalf) grabs the child. Stranger abductions are rather rare. In nearly 2 decades of law enforcement experience, I've not seen an incident like that at all. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has done extensive tracking on attempted abductions, and I don't see a ploy like that in their report.

I'm not discounting the importance of being aware of who's around you or your children, and who's paying attention to them -- as well as the nature of that attention -- but, at the same time, so many of these stories get passed around that they create a false impression or overinflate risks.

 

[Charlemagne]

Was this a personal experience, or something your friend came across on the internet?

By far, most child abductions are instances of custodial interference, where a parent (or someone acting on their behalf) grabs the child. Stranger abductions are rather rare. In nearly 2 decades of law enforcement experience, I've not seen an incident like that at all. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has done extensive tracking on attempted abductions, and I don't see a ploy like that in their report.

I'm not discounting the importance of being aware of who's around you or your children, and who's paying attention to them -- as well as the nature of that attention -- but, at the same time, so many of these stories get passed around that they create a false impression or overinflate risks.

It happened to her friend, and she shared it with me. And I am sure that things can get blown out of proportion, but that does not mean that they don't happen either. Many of us are training MA for a scenario that is statistically very unlikely for the average person, but we still train. This is no different.