Police in Ormond Beach are warning residents about a man who they say tried to snatch a 2-year-old girl from a shopping cart at a Publix grocery store.
The 2-year-old’s mother told officers that she had just put one child in a car seat when she turned around to find a man reaching out to grab her daughter from her shopping cart, investigators said.
The potential abductor was described as a Hispanic male with black hair, about 5 feet, 9 inches tall and wearing a white T-shirt.
When the girl’s mother caught him trying to pick up the child, the man said, “I’m sorry,” got into a silver four-door car with heavily tinted windows and drove away, officers said.
The man never touched the girl, “but he was reaching out as if he was going to pick her up,” her mother told investigators.
Publix employees told officers that the store did not have any security cameras facing the parking lot, and no one but the girl’s mother reported the incident.
The license plate on the man’s car might contain the letters XJY, police said.
Anyone with information on the incident is asked to contact the Ormond Beach Police Department at 386-677-0731 or Crimestoppers at 888-277-TIPS.
About the Author
