PASADENA, Texas – It was nearly a parent's worst nightmare for Lavette Rodriguez when she said a man tried to abduct her 3-year-old daughter Thursday night in the 2700 block of Lafferty Road.
"If we didn't hear anything and we didn't react differently, she would have been gone," Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez and her boyfriend were in the parking lot of their apartment complex loading their kids in the car when the unthinkable happened.
"We were putting them in the car, and I told her, 'Please stay right here,'" Rodriguez said.
Seconds after she turned her back, a stranger's voice could be heard, followed by an unsettling sight.
"She was trying to, like, figure out who he is. Like going towards him, like, 'Who are you?' And he was on his knees going, 'Mama, come here, come here,'" Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said once she saw the man dressed in all black and as her boyfriend was about to go after him, the man took off running.
"My boyfriend went and got her and was like, 'What are you doing?' And that guy just got up put his head down and ran," Rodriguez said.
The worried mother quickly called police and has since filed a report.
While police are investigating and looking for that unknown man, Rodriguez is also warning other parents.
"Just always keep them by your side. Because in a quick second, you don't know what's going to happen. They could be gone," Rodriguez said.