San Diego deputies release video of alleged kidnapping attempt in Costco parking lot

SAN DIEGO — Deputies in a Southern California county released a surveillance video of an alleged kidnapping that occurred in the parking lot of a Costco on Saturday.

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Office released the video, which occurred in the northern San Diego County city of Vista, KNSD reported.

“It is understandable that anytime an incident involves a child in the vicinity of an event, it can produce fear and anxiety on the part of parents and community. This is why law enforcement prioritizes these cases and focuses on the evidence,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release. “In this case, based on the video and other evidence gathered as part of our investigation, the Vista Sheriff’s Station believes there is no ongoing threat or danger to our community’s children related to this incident.”

At around 3 p.m. Saturday, Jennifer Lawson was backing her SUV out of a parking lot when a man opened the back door where her 2-year-old son was sitting, KSWB reported. A man, later identified as Adam Glavinic, 37, was confronted by Lawson, who jumped out of the vehicle and pushed him away. The SUV was stopped by her fiancé Peter Kopchak, KNSD reported.

“He comes out of nowhere, I just see him out of the corner of my eye, walking by and looks into my window then I see him looking into Peter’s window and opens up the door,” Lawson told KSWB. “As soon as he touched that handle, I jumped out as quick as I can, pushed him a few times, and then my fiancé got out.”

Kopchak, the father of the children, exited the SUV and confronted Glavinic, the television station reported.

“I think I hit him once and he hit the ground, then I just got on top of him,” Kopchak told KNSD.

An off-duty sheriff’s employee and other witnesses intervened and kept them apart until deputies arrived.

“I don’t know what he was going to do, and I wasn’t going to sit in the car and see what he was going to do and neither was my fiancé,” Lawson told KSWB. “So that’s what we had to do as parents. We had to do everything to protect our kid.”

Glavinic was arrested on suspicion of attempted kidnapping and being under the influence of a controlled substance, deputies said. He was booked into the Vista Detention Facility, and has since been released after posting $100,000 bail, KNSD reported.

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