LEESBURG, Ga (WALB) - Concerns over child safety have arisen in Lee County following reports of a child abduction attempt on Friday, March 22.

The Leesburg Police Department (LPD) has confirmed the incident, with both the sheriff’s office and Albany Police Department (APD) are aware and monitoring the area. According to officials, the Lee County School System notified parents and faculty upon receiving confirmation from the police department.

The bus driver says they did not notice anything suspicious when dropping off the child, per the school system. However, two kids who got off the bus during the time of the incident reported seeing a man in a black van call the child, and the child run away. They were unable to hear what was said to the child.

Police do not believe that this was a targeted incident.

If you have any information on this investigation, you are asked to message the Leesburg Police Department on Facebook.

Original Article

LEESBURG, Ga. (WALB) - The Leesburg Police Department is investigating an attempted child abduction of a 6-year-old boy short after he got off of a school bus on Friday.

A Ring doorbell video of that child shows him running home scared shortly after the encounter. WALB has blurred his face to protect his identity.

The attempted abduction happened on Friday, March 22 at around 3:30 p.m. at the intersection of Peach Avenue South and Fox Chase Court in Leesburg.

This was shortly after the child got off the bus and was walking to his home when he refused to go with the suspect and immediately ran home.

Watch the video of the boy coming home after running from the suspect’s vehicle.

“That’s a call you don’t want to get, you know? As any parent that’s just very scary,” said Yancey Baggett, the father of the child. “Normally, my son gets off the bus with his teenage siblings who just both happen to be out sick that day. So he had to get off the bus by himself.”

Little did Baggett know that his child would be approached by a complete stranger. He says a conversation his wife had with their son days before the incident taught the boy to run away.

“It was just so ironic that two days before that his mother had the instinct to have that talk with him,” said Baggett. “If somebody tries to get you to come up to a van or any vehicle and tries to get you to get in and you do not know them, you run and you scream and make a lot of noise. And it was just like God, you know, speaking that something was going to happen.”

Afterward, Baggett immediately left work, came home to his family, and contacted the Leesburg Police Department to report the incident.

Captain James Vick, the chief investigator for the Leesburg Police Department, tells WALB what is known so far about the suspect.

• White adult male
• Medium build
• Dark, poofy curly hair
• Red marks on both cheeks, pimples
• Large black SUV/minivan

“Definitely have the child be aware of, you know, the stranger danger,” said Vick. “If somebody is in a strange vehicle you don’t know. Don’t, don’t go into them. If they try and call you over, run and scream, holler. Anything to get some attention from other adults in the area.”

WALB has yet to hear back from Lee County Schools after requesting a comment on the incident.

Anyone with information on this incident or that man should contact authorities as the investigation remains active.

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