DAVIDSON, N.C. — Davidson Police urged parents to be extra alert Tuesday after a stranger reportedly tried to entice a 12-year-old boy into his car by promising a shopping trip to Target.
This comes just one week after another reported luring case in South Carolina, where another 12-year-old told authorities in Lancaster County a stranger tried to lure him into a car to go play baseball. Deputies said no charges would be filed in that case.
“No city or town is exempt from being in danger, but it just makes you wonder, why here?” said Heather Evans, a mother of two young girls who lives off Lake Park Drive where the latest incident happened.
Davidson Police said on that residential street around 7 a.m. on Labor Day, the child was walking his dog when he was approached by a man in a dark blue or black car.
The suspect reportedly asked the boy if he wanted to go for a ride. When the child said no, police said the man promised to take the boy to Target to buy whatever he’d like.
“Every kid is obsessed with Target; that makes me think he knows what kids want and that’s even scarier,” Evans said.
Thankfully, the child knew what to do and ran home to tell his parents who called 911.
“That’s crazy I’m out here all the time,” said Carmen Concepcion, a 15-year-old who lives in the neighborhood. “There are always a lot of kids in this park and walking dogs.”
She and most of the other kids didn’t play outside after school like usual on Tuesday on strict orders from their parents to stay inside after Monday’s scare.
“He was really smart to run and call the police,” Concepcion said. “I’d be so scared and in shock, I don't know what I would do.”
Police urged parents to have the “stranger danger” talk with their kids.
“You just don’t think things like this happen anymore,” Evans admitted. “You just think it’s something that used to happen in the old days when people let their children run crazy.”