Man Tries To Kidnap Child Right In Front Of Her Mother

Just when you thought the news stories in Florida could not get any worse (seriously, the state has some of the weirdest stories), a new one this week has possibly taken the cake.

This story could be hard for some parents to digest, and the video may be even harder to watch. A surveillance video inside of a Hernando, Florida Dollar Tree, captured one of the most disturbing kidnapping attempts in broad daylight.

Suspect Craig Bonello, 30, entered the store on Tuesday, and grabbed a teenage girl while she was shopping with her mother. On camera he is seen pulling the girl by her arms and dragging her to the front door. Thankfully the mother saw what was going on and latched herself onto her child like a protective mama bear and Bonello eventually gave up. He let go of the girl and ran out the front door.

Bonello didn’t get very far as off-duty Citrus County Sheriff’s Dep. Jonathan Behnen was getting out of his patrol car at that moment to enter the store. When the store manager yelled to Behnen for help, he immediately jumped back into his car and blocked Bonello’s car from leaving the parking lot. Dehnen ordered Bonello out of his car, after which he was arrested and taken into custody.

“In my ten years on the road I have never seen anything like this,” Citrus County Sheriff’s Sgt. Craig Callahan said. “He truly intended to abduct this child right in front of everyone in the store.”

Though both mother and daughter will be shaken up for years to come, both were uninjured.

The fact that a parent could end up in a tug-of-war match with a stranger over their child petrifying. This is just another reason for parents to watch their kids very closely in public.