Kids love going to the grocery store or superstores with you to pick out their favorite food, snacks, and toys. It seems like just a normal safe thing to do, but one mom’s experience might have you thinking twice…
Amanda Kalidy brought her daughter Jenna to Target to shop with her one afternoon and everything seemed fine.
Then a little girl started coming up to her daughter offering her candy.
It seemed innocent at first, but it turns out that this little girl would be a lot more dangerous than she could’ve ever imagined.
Amanda goes into detail about the incident on her Facebook page. Here is what she writes:
“I have to post this as a reminder to all moms. I was at Target when a girl who was about nine years old kept approaching my daughter. I didn’t think much at first. But she was pretty persistent, so I got irritated and told her that my daughter didn’t want any candy and we kept walking.
She got upset with me and as I went to check out she came up again trying to get Jenna to take some gum. I looked over and a man was across the store signaling to her. I told the cashier and he called the manager, which then they both bolted and got into a van.”
It appeared that the man was attempting to use the little girl as bait to lure Jenna into a trap and kidnap her. Luckily, Amanda was aware enough to react quickly.
This left Amanda scared for others and she felt she should’ve recognized the danger immediately after the little girl first started approaching her daughter Jenna. She took to her Facebook page to warn other mothers out there to be extremely wary when taking their children out in public places that might seem safe.
“If I had known what what was happening at the time, I could have grabbed the girl and saved her! Point being, they wanted to take my daughter! She’s four!
The manager told me that human traffickers target places like Target because moms are there during the day with their kids, and many times moms turn their backs when loading the cart. That’s when they can grab them from shopping carts.
Please be careful and always watch your kids!”
Amanda could never forgive herself if she let anything happen to her little Jenna.
Amanda told KFOR News,
“It’s very scary, and you have to stay alert.”
Law enforcement officials fully agree with Amanda. Michael Snowden who is part of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics Human Trafficking Division states that these criminals will use any method they can in order to trick unsuspecting parents and he suggests parents always stay aware in public areas.
