Attempted Kidnapping?

[SteveM4A1]

So something hit close to home today. The niece's babysitter had an apparent kidnapping attempt today, summary of the incident as follows.

Lady is in Sam's with her child in the cart. As she is walking through the store shopping, she notices two men walking around without a cart just talking, but not really shopping it seems. As she walks through the aisles, they are at the end of about everyone one just looking and talking. At one point, she reaches the produce section and is at the front of her cart, back to her child, reaching for some produce when she hears her child scream. She turns around and sees that one of the men has unbuckled the child and was lifting him/her out of the cart. She yells at the man, he drops the child, and makes a sprint to the door.

As I sit here thinking about this situation and what I would do, I thought it would be a good chance to get another scenario thread going and see what everyone thinks they would do. How do you not draw?

I just hope this lady has learned an extremely important lesson in situational awareness.

 

[Bennettjh]

Wow. That's scary. Her and the child are extremely fortunate.

 

[churchmouse]

Wow.
I would have to be "In" the situation as so many factors.
I am a good shot with a can of peas.
Not making light of a bad situation. I would not draw my sidearm if the child was in play but I would snatch me up some ass hat and go to work with anything available from the cart.

 

[mom45]

Wow.
I would have to be "In" the situation as so many factors.
I am a good shot with a can of peas.
Not making light of a bad situation. I would not draw my sidearm if the child was in play but I would snatch me up some ass hat and go to work with anything available from the cart.

That was my first thought too...not sure I would draw with a child possibly in the line of fire. I would have screamed to draw attention to us and would have done all I could to keep them from getting out that door. I hope she reported this to the store manager so they could check cameras for footage of the incident.

 

[Ballstater98]

I see this situation ALL the time in stores! I personally take it upon myself to watch. That just may be me. As for drawing, probably not. A tackle and meeting with 5 friends while waiting on law enforcement while keeping an eye on suspect #2 would be my 1st thought. Now, that said, LUCKY!

 

[awames76]

diffidently make as much noise as u can, hoping someone will stop them in the store. talk to the manager and make a police report. even though i have knee problems [surgery jan 2016] id make a run at them and do what i can to stop them. as for pulling a gun doubt it.

 

[j4jenk]

Once the "perp" let go of the child and begins to run away, what reasonable fear of death or great bodily harm to yourself or someone else could you articulate? None = no draw.

 

[SteveM4A1]

Once the "perp" let go of the child and begins to run away, what reasonable fear of death or great bodily harm to yourself or someone else could you articulate? None = no draw.

Wasn't implying drawing on a fleeing individual.

 

[Gluemanz28]

Drawing my sidearm would not have been my first choice for multiple reasons.

Might hit the child
Wounded scumbag says he was just protecting kid from falling out of the cart.
Probably wouldn't have time to access what's beyond my target.

Mess with my Grandkids and Poppy will rip your head off!

 

[T.Lex]

Was there a police report? Those kinds of places usually have solid video.

 

[SteveM4A1]

Police were on scene.

 

[Roland of Gilead]

How old was the child? Just out of curiosity.

Where did this happen?

If verbal commands do not stop the person from taking your child. Contact shot to the head is a viable option if you can get close enough.

The thought of having a child stolen is absolutely horrifying.

 

[rhino]

I wonder if some kind of marital or child custody issues are at play here. Most child abductions are a result of such idiocy.

 

[eldirector]

So, literally 5-6 feet away from mom?

My wife would have rendered them into an unrecognizable pulp. When it comes to kids, a parent's adrenaline rush is an incredible force.

Sounds like this particular case worked out about as well as one can hope. Child unharmed and safe, and mom unharmed (just frightened).

 

[CampingJosh]

Was there a police report? Those kinds of places usually have solid video.

Plus Sam's Club requires a membership to get it. There might be a name and photo on file with the company. (I know that there are ways to get in without having a membership, but it's still a possibility.)

Big retail places have very good camera systems. I know 12+ years ago the cameras on the front of the Kokomo Lowe's store could see across the parking lot, across US Hwy 31, and into the McDonald's across the street clearly enough to read the menu. They showed me as part of training.

 

[singlesix]

I'm not a child kidnapper so I don't know, but the last place I'd want to attempt a kidnap is in such a public space as a store.

 

[halfmileharry]

Was there a police report? Those kinds of places usually have solid video.

You would think video would be a given BUT...I had a similar incident at the WalMart on 31s in Indy and video wasn't available and lights in the parking lot were turned off by 60%.

 

[awames76]

U can get into sams with out a membership. Just tell them u want to look around. Done it before to see if prices were good enough. Looking at baby formula. It was not

 

[femurphy77]

Not going to read everything, too lazy. What do you do? Child is safe, be a good witness. Try to maintain visual contact, get a good description or whip that cellphone out and put it to good use instead of another selfie, description of car etc.

 

[littletommy]

We were in our local Sams club a few months ago, and shortly after we walked in, they made some sort of announcement over the PA, due to my bad hearing, I didn't catch what was said, but according to the boss of me, there was a missing child, and they were locking the store down. I guess they found the kid pretty quick, because after a few minutes I noticed they started letting people in and out again.