Mom says strangers tried to lure her child away at H-E-B

Other local parents are chiming in, saying they have similar stories

SAN ANTONIOUPDATE: On Thursday the FBI said they could not find any evidence of a possible child abduction.

ORIGINAL STORY

A San Antonio mother is sounding the stranger danger alarm. She said two people tried to lure her child away from her at a local grocery store last week, and now others are saying the same thing happened to them. That mom is now hoping her story will remind other caregivers to keep their eyes peeled. 

"These people were on me before I could even blink an eye. They were just right there," said Katy Corrigan. 

She was describing a scary moment last Tuesday when she took her three young children with her to the Lincoln Heights HEB to grocery shop. She said the situation happened in the parking lot. 

"I had one of my children in my arms and the other two kind of broke away from me, and in the blink of an eye there was a couple that was between me and one of my children and they were ushering my daughter away from me toward a different parking lot," she said.

She said her 2 1/2-year-old daughter started screaming.

"So I managed to kind of scoop everybody up and get them into HEB and they followed me into the store, which is what really raised my -- I call it my mama-dar. It's my mom radar, and I knew something was going on," she said.

Corrigan immediately flagged down an employee.

"HEB was on it. They called security and called a store manager and the couple disappeared out the other door," she said.

Her experience became even scarier when the next day she told a close friend what happened, and that woman said the same thing happened to her child last Monday. 

"Different day, but same time, same location, same kind of couple, same description and she realizes this may not be a coincidence," Corrigan said.

Both women immediately made reports with SAPD and HEB. Both organizations will be looking through surveillance video. 

Corrigan also took to the Alamo City Moms Blog Wednesday morning and posted an article titled, "The Day a Stranger Tried to Take My Child." Hours later she scrolled down to the comment section and saw dozens of posts from other people saying the same thing happened to them. Many people listed other locations. 

"People have had this happen at the Stone Oak HEB, the Shavano Park HEB. Other people have seen it at Target," Corrigan said.

She said she hopes anyone with a similar experience will file a police report like she did, so detectives can see if any of the incidents are connected.

"This is also great reminder for grandparents and caretakers, nannies, older siblings who take out younger siblings, anyone who takes care of kids. We all need to be more vigilant and make sure we're watching who's around our kids," Corrigan said. "I hope my story will make everyone more aware."

Click here to see Corrigan's full post.


About the Author:

Courtney Friedman anchors KSAT’s weekend evening shows and reports during the week. Her ongoing Loving in Fear series confronts Bexar County’s domestic violence epidemic. She joined KSAT in 2014 and is proud to call the SA and South Texas community home. She came to San Antonio from KYTX CBS 19 in Tyler, where she also anchored & reported.