UPDATE: LPD calls abduction attempt report ‘misunderstanding’
UPDATE: Lockhart police say they have investigated the woman’s report and reviewed surveillance footage and have chalked the entire thing up to a misunderstanding. After reviewing footage and interviewing the individuals, police were able to conclude they were local business owners handing out flyers.
11:35 a.m.: Lockhart police are investigating a report of a potential abduction attempt that allegedly occurred Monday night at Walmart.
Officer Stephen Parra, public information officer for Lockhart Police Department, confirmed Tuesday morning police were looking into a case also reported on Facebook by a woman who said two men and a woman approached them at Walmart. According to the post, the woman grabbed her daughter’s arm and tried to hand her a yellow object.
“We are currently investigating that this morning,” said Parra, who said the potential attempted abduction report was the first of its kind made to Lockhart police.
Parra said Tuesday police had not yet identified any suspects.
The Facebook post described the trio as a Hispanic male in his early to mid 20s standing about 5-8 and weighing about 170 wearing a gray t-shirt, denim jeans and a neutral color ballcap; a Hispanic male with slicked-back black hair and a mustache standing about 5-5 and weighing 140 wearing a purple polo shirt and black pants, and a Hispanic female in her mid 40s standing about 5-2 and weighing about 120 pounds with black hair wearing a white and black shirt and black pants.
According to the post, the woman pulled her daughter away from the group and went to the cashier’s office to make a report to the manager. When the manager didn’t materialize, they left the store.
Once outside, they were spotted by the group, the woman said, who pointed at her daughter. She said she left for home and called police, who sent an officer to the store and one to her house to take her report.
According to the social media post, the woman said a police officer told her human trafficking “had been happening recently” and “they were looking to drug (name withheld) with whatever was yellow that they were handing to her.”
“That’s also under investigation,” Parra said.
Happy to hear this was all a misunderstanding. The business owners should be cited. They should not be promoting their local business by handing out anything to strangers inside Walmart, nor should they be trying to hand anything to a child or young person. So glad this mom took appropriate action. I probably would have done the same thing. I believe most people are good, but we can’t be too careful with our children because they are many people with bad intentions.