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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