Dallas communities on edge after 2 apparent child abduction attempts caught on video in broad daylight on same day



Parents in the Dallas area are on edge after two apparent child abduction attempts were caught on video the same day this week.

The apparent child abduction attempts both happened Monday within hours and miles of each other, but law enforcement said it doesn't see any evidence the alleged kidnapping attempts are related.

'Either incident could have resulted in tragedy.'

The first abduction attempt happened around 8:20 a.m. in the suburb of Richardson.

A freshman girl was walking to the J.J. Pearce High School campus when she noticed a motorist following her.

The frightened girl rang the doorbell of a home in the area.

Shane Burke answered the door and let the teen into his house.

Burke told KXAS-TV, "She initially hid behind our car to see if he was coming back and sure enough, here he came really slow, and again, she was really smart. She did all the right things. When I opened the door, she started explaining that someone has been following her. She was really shaky.”

He added, "I don’t think he was saying anything [to the child]. She said, 'He keeps going by real slow back and forth on the street and staring at me, and I’m not comfortable.'"

"I don’t know what this guy’s motive was or what he was up to, but she said she didn’t know him; he wasn’t an ex-boyfriend, or a family member, or anything, so whatever," Burke said. "This is serious. This was a close call. Fortunately, she did all the right things."

Burke’s wife drove the girl to school.

Burke checked his home's surveillance camera and noticed video showed a car going back and forth on the street.

Burke notified police and provided them with the chilling video.

Richardson Police spokesman Mike Wieczorek said the suspect's vehicle is a black or dark blue 2014-2016 4-door Toyota Corolla S. Police described the suspect as being bald, between 20 and 30 years old, with dark skin and is possibly Latino.

A male is seen on surveillance video jumping out of the passenger side of the vehicle and chasing after the boy who was running back to the house.

The Richardson Independent School District wrote a letter telling parents to tell their children that "if anything out of the ordinary occurs on the way to or from school, run to a safe place and report it to a trusted adult, staff member, or parent immediately."

A second apparent kidnapping attempt happened around 2:40 p.m. in nearby Far North Dallas.

Genna Skolnik said her sons were playing near their home with their friends when "I hear the door fly open and I hear: 'Jay’s being kidnapped! Jay’s being kidnapped!" Skolnik said she initially thought it was a prank.

But Skolnik recalled a disturbing detail: "The guys in the car were telling them: 'Hey, come talk to us, check out our car.' One of the boys was totally spooked and said, 'We need to run.'"

"They were calling to my son saying: ‘Hey, we have a football player in the car. Like, you should come talk to him,'" Skolnik recalled, adding that her son said, "I don’t talk to strangers!" With that, she said the driver put the car in reverse, and her son "started running."

A male is seen on surveillance video jumping out of the passenger side of the vehicle and chasing after the boy who was running back to the house. The male abruptly stopped when he noticed the concerned mother on the porch recording him with her cellphone.

"I just wanted to take the picture and chase him back, but I wanted to get the boys inside first," Skolnik explained, adding that she was able to capture a photo of the vehicle's license plate number.

The Dallas Police Department said in a press release: "The preliminary investigation determined a group of children were outside when they were approached by a young Hispanic male in a white SUV, asking one of the children to look at something in the back of his vehicle."

Dallas Police identified the vehicle as a Toyota Four-Runner. Investigators are also looking at a dark-colored Chevy pickup truck caught on video that also could have been involved in the apparent attempted kidnapping.

Council Member Cara Mendelsohn of District 12 in northern Dallas was "shocked" over the apparent attempted child abductions.

"I am thankful no child was hurt. Either incident could have resulted in tragedy,” Mendelsohn wrote on the X social media platform.

According to data from the crime analytics dashboard for the city of Dallas, there have been 122 kidnappings or abductions this year — a 14% increase compared to the same period in 2023. There have been 57 crimes of human trafficking committed this year in Dallas.

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'I just lost it on him': Texas man clubs suspect who tried to steal his catalytic converter



On August 4 at 10 p.m., the motion sensor on Clay Hayner's Ring camera alerted him to movement near his van, parked outside his home in Dallas' Design District. Hayner told Fox 4 that he checked his live security video feed and "saw a guy walking around [his] van and ... starting to move some of the stuff under there." Upon seeing the suspect crawl under his van — despite the deterrents he had installed earlier — Hayner equipped a metal light stand and ran outside to confront the man.

Hayner, a photographer who claims never before to have engaged in a fight, found the suspect allegedly armed with a knife. "He looks at me and he holds up like a knife and I just lost it on him," said Hayner. "My adrenaline was going."

Using the light stand, Hayner clubbed the suspect multiple times. Since the suspect was momentarily stuck under the vehicle, Hayner said he was "able to beat him for a while."

The suspect can be heard on video yelling, "I'm leaving, I'm leaving," before fleeing the scene.

\u201cVIDEO: A Dallas man confronted \u2014 and beat \u2014 a man who appeared to be attempting to steal a catalytic converter from his van. \u201cI\u2019m leaving! Im leaving!\u201d the suspect shouted. Police are investigating. More on @FOX4.\u201d
— David Sentendrey (@David Sentendrey) 1659901710

Hayner noted his regret in permitting the suspect to get away, but was otherwise happy with having defended his property. "At least I got a little bit of revenge for all the past stuff that's happened." This was, after all, not the first time someone had come for his catalytic converter. "This is the fourth time they've tried to take it and they've gotten it twice."

In his rush to get away, the suspect — who has not yet been apprehended — left behind his tool bag, which contained wire cutters, masks, saws, gloves, and knives, along with his bike.

CBS reported that catalytic converter thefts in Dallas are up 25% in 2022. The Dallas Police Department indicated that such thefts in 2021 were already four times higher than the previous year.

Nationally, such thefts have skyrocketed over recent years. 1,298 were reported in 2018, 3,389 in 2019, and 14,433 in 2020.

The National Insurance Crime Bureau attributes the spike in catalytic converter thefts, in part, to the value of precious metals. Catalytic converters contain platinum, rhodium, palladium, and gold. According to a March 2022 KITCO appraisal, rhodium was valued at $20,000 per ounce; palladium at $2,938 per ounce; and platinum at $1,128 per ounce.

To replace this critical component of a vehicle's emissions system could cost between $300 and $2,500, not including the labor cost of installation.

While Hayner successfully chased away the suspect who allegedly sought to remove his catalytic converter, not all confrontations end in the victim's favor.

On August 8, a 54-year-old Chicago man was shot twice after trying to prevent thieves from taking his catalytic converter in West Rogers Park. On August 2, Sergio Maas was allegedly gunned down in Dallas by Isabel Campbell after intervening in a similar theft. A 23-year-old man who confronted such thieves was shot on March 20 in Saint Paul, Minnesota.