Surveillance photographs released by Oklahoma City police show the moment a stranger scooped up an 8-year-old kid at an arena on the state fairgrounds.
According to Sgt. Gary Knight, an assistant public information officer for the Oklahoma City Police Department, the images were released on Facebook on Monday in the hopes of identifying and questioning the guy shown in them, who is accused of attempted child abduction by the 8-year-old boy’s father.
As of this morning, Knight informed ABC News that the department had received multiple tips but had not yet confirmed the suspect’s name.
According to Knight, the event occurred on Jan. 6, while the boy in the photo was competing in a wrestling tournament at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds.
According to a police report obtained by ABC News, the boy’s father stated his son was standing to the left of the arena’s main entrance when a man approached him, grabbed him up, and “held him onto his hip.”
The suspect continued “going towards the main entrance to depart with” the youngster, according to the father, but the 8-year-old “began kicking and screaming to let him go,” according to the report.
According to the complaint, the man then “dropped his youngster onto the ground” and departed the arena.
According to the report, the responding police officer asked the boy’s father whether he believed there was “a possibility of misinterpretation,” that the suspect might have mistaken the boy for his own son.
According to the report, the father stated that he suspected the suspect was “trying to steal his youngster.”
Investigators are looking into “all possibilities, including the possibility that the man seen in the images was trying to abduct the youngster,” Knight told ABC News.
“What we see in the images is clearly suspect,” Knight said, “but we absolutely want to speak with the person involved and learn more.”
Anyone with information regarding the event or suspect is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 405-235-7300 or submit a report online at www.okccrimetips.com, according to the Oklahoma City Police Department on Facebook. “You can stay anonymous and may get a financial reward,” the government noted.