SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A young mother says her daughter was nearly kidnapped at a San Diego Walmart parking lot last Tuesday as she tried to load her car.
Nathalie Barajas and her 1-year-old little girl had just arrived at the South Bay Walmart store on 710 Dennery Road, located in the Palm Promenade Shopping Center, last Tuesday when she says a woman came up to her car.
"She just started saying, oh your daughter is so beautiful, and it was just me taking her out of the car seat so I kind of felt uncomfortable but I figured she's an older lady you know," said Barajas.
Barajas and her daughter went inside to shop and she figured the woman would be gone by the time she left.
But as she was loading things into the car, the woman appeared again, and this time Barajas says she was making threats.
"She also told me if I didn't give her money she was going to commit suicide by taking pills. When I told her no she tried grabbing my daughter and I grabbed my daughter and I screamed," said Barajas.
At that point, Barajas says other people nearby intervened and the woman ran off. She says she was scared to stick around but called 9-1-1 from her family's home.
She returned to the parking lot with family members who confronted the woman.
"She just told them that, oh I was just looking for a house cleaning job," said Barajas.
Barajas told ABC 10News she waited about an hour for officers to arrive after calling police for help. San Diego Police told ABC 10News they did receive a call from Barajas but weren't able to file a formal report on the incident because she eventually left the scene before officers could meet her.
Barajas described the woman as about 5' 2", heavier build, with short red hair, and a tattoo under one eye.
She says she just wants to get the word out so the same thing doesn't happen to another mother.
