Bystanders stop kidnapping as mom screamed for help at basketball tourney, WA cops say

A stranger tried to kidnap a woman’s child on Sunday while she was at a Washington basketball tournament, police say.

The mother had taken her children to Hoopfest, a popular tournament that shuts down 45 blocks of downtown Spokane, Washington, and draws thousands of people, according to The Spokesman-Review. She was standing with her children Sunday night when a man walked up and asked whether the kids belonged to her, police said. When she said yes, the man wrapped his arms around one of her children, police said.

The mother reached out as he was taking the child away, police said.

“The mom grabbed the kid back and they had a tug of war back and forth with the kid and she started screaming,” police Cpl. Ron Van Tassel told KHQ TV in Spokane.

That’s when several people standing nearby wrestled him to the ground and held him down until officers could arrive, police said. Witnesses later told investigators that the man was walking around the tournament and acting strangely, particularly around children, police said.

The man, identified as Peter Wilson, 26, was taken to the hospital for evaluation and later charged with attempted kidnapping, police said.

This story was originally published July 1, 2019 at 4:39 PM with the headline "Bystanders stop kidnapping as mom screamed for help at basketball tourney, WA cops say."