School is now in session across North Texas, and police are urging parents and students to be alert after two attempted child abductions on Monday.
The first incident, which occurred in Richardson, involved a man stalking a female J.J. Pearce High School student at about 8:20 a.m.
A nearby homeowner, Shane Burke, captured the disturbing encounter on his home surveillance camera. The video shows the girl standing by a tree and then later hiding behind a vehicle in Burke’s driveway as a black vehicle slowly drives up and down the street.
“I was sitting down to get coffee. I work from home, and my doorbell rang,” Burke recalled. “This girl was here who I did not know.”
“She was distressed and said someone she did not know had been following her,” Burke told Fox 4 KDFW. “This guy was going back and forth, back and forth. And each time, a little slower and slowing way down as he came to her. That is when I realized this is a serious incident.”
Fortunately, the girl was not harmed, and Burke’s wife drove her to school after the incident.
The Richardson Police Department released an image from the video showing the suspect driving a dark four-door sedan, which is believed to be a 2014-2016 Toyota Corolla. The police interviewed both the girl and her father.
Later that day, the Dallas Police Department received a call about an attempted kidnapping on Old Pond Drive, about 2 miles away from where the first incident occurred.
“On August 12, 2024, at around 2:40 p.m., Dallas Police responded to a report of an attempted kidnapping in the 16900 block of Old Pond Drive. 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,” DPD said, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
A home surveillance video shows the suspect chasing after a young boy for a short distance as he ran away from the vehicle, Fox 4 reported.
Dallas police are searching for a white Toyota 4Runner with license plate THS9209 in connection with the incident. Police do not believe the two suspicious encounters are connected.
Police are urging anyone with information about the two incidents to contact law enforcement.
According to data from the City of Dallas crime analytics dashboard, there have been 122 kidnappings or abductions committed in Dallas this year as of August 13, marking a 14% increase compared to the same period in 2023. Some 16 of the victims this year were under the age of 18.
Dallas has struggled to keep a lid on crime as the department has been chronically understaffed for years. DPD fields only about 3,000 officers, despite a prior City analysis that recommended 4,000 officers for a city the size of Dallas. In addition, the department is working with a budget of $654 million this year, far less than other high-crime jurisdictions such as New York City and Chicago.