Teen noticed man behaving oddly around a little girl at Target — he followed his gut feeling and quickly saved her life
Predators and people with ill intentions are often looking for opportunities when parents leave their young kids unattended in public spaces. Whether it is a playground or a convenience store full of shoppers, parents should never leave their kids alone even for a minute. According to CBS News, a teen's vigilance helped avoid what could have been an ugly incident involving a little girl and a man who was potentially preying on her. The young man named Cameron Cook was out shopping with his mom at the South Bay Plaza Target in Boston when he noticed something strange.
They were browsing through the store when Cook spotted a young girl in there, pushing her shopping cart. He also noticed how she was being ogled at by an odd fellow, raising Cook's concerns. The man's perverted actions proved how intoxicated he was. While the rest of the store ignored the fellow, Cook felt he must do something about it. "I saw the guy grabbing himself and my mom went, 'Cam let's go, keep walking.' I was like, 'No, something's going on," Cook told the news outlet, describing the man as someone who had a "demonic look on his face."
"I was close enough that I could smell the liquor coming from his mouth," Cook's mom Heather, confirmed. "It was horrible." The drunk fellow was fixated on the young girl and when he got uncomfortably close to her, she was startled. That is when Cook knew he had to step in and help her. "So I went up to him, I was like, 'Excuse me, sir, do you know her?' And then the first thing he said was, 'I'm not a pervert, I'm not a pervert.' I was like, 'I didn't ask you that sir,'" Cook recalled. Heather mentioned how the man was well-built but her son did not show an ounce of fear in front of him.
"He just stood firm on the fact that he knew what this man was doing was wrong," she shared. Cook suggests the man to leave the store. Thankfully, the man complied and left but he continued to mutter curses on his way out. The man continued to say that he was not doing anything wrong. "I'm very proud of him but it's totally within his character," Heather admitted about her son. "He was not afraid to do what's right." "I'm just happy I was there to protect her," Cook added. "Because you never know what could have happened."
The young girl's mother also expressed her gratitude to Cook for what he did, revealing that she was in the bathroom at that time. Subsequently, the store manager turned over the store's surveillance footage to the cops. Heather relayed that the store manager told her how the footage showed the drunkard climbing into a car waiting outside the store. The police advised parents to not leave their small children alone at the store. Instead, they should take the children with them to the bathroom. Cook and his mother's interview was covered on the YouTube page of CBS Boston.