Eagle-eyed Target employee trusted her instincts about suspicious customer and saved kidnapped 7-year-old
Working in the customer or service industry requires employees to be vigilant and aware of their environment and their customers. This skill can go a long way in making an efficient employee who stands out. An employee from Target, Pittsburg, Security specialist Roxanna Ramirez, did her job exceptionally well by looking out for suspicious people in the store. She managed to make a careful observation and recollect the same to nab an alleged kidnapper of a 7-year-old, per CBS News. What started as a hunch from the employee’s end was a key clue in making an arrest and saving a life. The suspect, David Douglas, was roaming around Target and Ramirez noticed his unusual behavior from the first glimpse.
As Ramirez kept an eye on him, his actions started getting more doubtful. The woman followed him in the store for a bit and soon after, she went into the surveillance room to get a better hold on him, per The Mercury News. “He was pacing back and forth. He was changing his clothes in the parking lot. He started messing around with his backpack. And at one point, he was sitting in the car, shaking his steering wheel,” she noted. The woman observed that the man had a gold Camry parked right next to her car and took down the number on his car to be on the safer side after her gut instincts.
Ramirez went about her day after the man left and didn’t make anything of the scene. However, when she learned of the alert issued by the cops for an abductor, things began to align. As she went over the description of the man’s vehicle, she realized it was the same customer from earlier. “I was like, ‘Hold on…This was the guy in the store. He looked like that, and that matched the car description,’” she recalled. The alert was issued after Douglas had kidnapped a 7-year-old girl from her home. The employee didn’t hesitate to call the cops and share all that she knew. To everyone’s luck, the details she noted made a massive difference in progressing the case and helping locate and nab the man.
“And once we learned who he was, we were able to go out and find him at the Antioch marina because we had information that's where he liked to frequent," Lt. Tammany Brooks said, per ABC News. Ramirez made the call at 10 pm and within 45 minutes, the car was located in Antioch Marina and rescued. The girl was unharmed and brought to safety, thanks to Ramirez’s sharp skills. “What she did was what truly broke the case,” Brooks remarked. A former FBI agent, Brad Garrett, used the Target employee and the case as an example to express the sense of urgency required in such cases. He noted that timing is crucial and life-saving in kidnapping cases and details must be passed down as soon as possible. "I'm happy that the girl is with her family. I'm happy that she gets to live the childhood that she deserves. I hope she puts this tragic thing behind her," Ramirez said.