ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — It was about 3:30 p.m. Friday when Nicole Atkins says her three children were walking home from Pineloch Elementary School in Orange County.
As they headed down the street, a stranger walked up to them and the three said he grabbed the youngest by the neck and tried to guide her away.
“To me, that’s every parent’s worst nightmare,” Atkins said.
The children were able to get away unharmed, but were terrified by the encounter.
“As a parent, I felt like it was my fault because I felt like I could have done something better, to sit there and protect my kids,” Atkins said. “Like, nobody wants to have that fear of their kid possibly being kidnapped.”
The school’s principal sent out a message to parents Tuesday, but did not give details about the incident, only asking parents to, “Please talk with your children about stranger danger.”
Parent Shaquetta Bert couldn’t believe it took so long to be told about the incident.
“That’s crazy,” she said. “It’s been since Friday. They should have said something Friday.”
Atkins was also unnerved by the lack of information from the school.
“I think they really should inform the parents, because at the end of the day, what if it was their kids?” she said.
A dean at the school saw the suspicious man and reported him to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and waited with the children at a nearby McDonalds for their mother to pick them up.
District officials did not know why it took so long for the message to be sent to parents.
Cox Media Group
