Gwinnett County

Mother shopping at Walmart says man tried to lure her children away

By Chris Jose, WSB-TV
By Chris Jose, WSB-TV

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — It’s a parent’s worst nightmare: Something happening to your child.

That’s what almost happened to one Gwinnett County mother.

"It was a creepy incident," Kristy Campbell told Channel 2's Chris Jose Tuesday.

She says the man followed her family into a Walmart in Snellville, and tried to lure her 9-year-old and 6-year-old children away from her.

The man kept following them and the mother believes he was trying to abduct the kids by luring them over to look at watermelons.

"The man came up to them and was whispering to them 'come over here, hold the watermelons, come over here and feel the smooth watermelon," she said.

Campbell says he followed them for more than 15 minutes. She was uncomfortable but too scared to confront him, she told Jose.

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"If someone is trying to lure your children away, you don't know if they're carrying weapons. I'm 4'11. I certainly don't think he had good intentions. You don't try to lure a child away from their parents for any good reason," Campbell said.

She filed a police report just before she spoke to us. Investigators called her and said they're looking through surveillance video.

"He was so brazen and blatant, they were right there with me, about 5 feet away and he's coming up to them, whispering at them to lure them away. I mean, that's a scary thought," she said.

She believes the attempted abduction at this Walmart could be related to a similar case last month in Mountain Park Park in Gwinnett County because the descriptions are similar.

Walmart released a statement Tuesday evening about the incident, saying, "We work to create a safe atmosphere for all of our customers and take these reports seriously. We’re currently working with Snellville Police to validate the claim."

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