South Fulton on alert: Men in van may have tried to abduct 2 kids

SOUTH FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — A South Fulton County community is keeping an eye on each other this morning, after some suspicious men in a van may have tried to abduct two children on their way home from school.

The Hapeville Police Department said two children -- a boy and a girl -- reported that a white cargo van pulled up beside them as they walked home from the bus stop on Moreland Way on Friday.

The children told police the driver backed up toward them, got out and started to chase the girl.

Marco Antonio Mayo said his daughter was one of the children that the van tried to pick up.

“Her friends saw the guys looking at her and said, ‘They're watching you,’” Mayo said.

The kids told police that one of two men in the van got out and followed the little girl for a few feet.

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Mayo said he's so proud of his daughter and her friend for what they did next.

“She said, ‘Hey at the count of three, we’re going to run and we’re going to start screaming.’ So that’s what they did,” Mayo said.

Neighbors told Channel 2 Action News they'll be extra vigilant now.

Meanwhile, Mayo said he and his wife will walk their daughter to and from the bus stop from now on.

“It breaks my heart just to hear it. Nothing happened to her but when they told me like, a lot of things came through my mind,” Mayo said.

Police said the children described the driver as a black man who is about 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighs about 175 pounds. He was wearing a baseball cap with sunglasses on top of the hat. They said the passenger was also a black man with "fuzzy hair as if he wore a ball cap all the time."

Police are searching for the van. They are asking anyone who spots it to call the Hapeville Police Department.

Cox Media Group