HOUSTON – A Houston mother is horrified after a man was caught on surveillance video exposing himself to her 7-year-old daughter in a northeast east Houston store.
It happened Wednesday around 4:30 p.m., the mother said.
"I was mad for what he did behind my back," the mother said. She asked not to be identified.
Surveillance video from the Value Dollar store on Lyons captured the incident. The man is seen looking around, trailing behind the little girl and then eventually exposing himself to her.
WATCH: Surveillance video of man exposing himself to child in dollar store
"That's very disgusting and nasty. That's sick," said shopper Deandrea Wallace, who is the mother of a 2-year-old child.
"If I would have seen him, showing that to my daughter, I would have punched him," the mother said to KPRC.
Shoppers were disturbed but glad to know the store and the mother reported the incident promptly.
"As a female, as a grandmother, as a parent, it is alarming to have someone that feels so comfortable to come out to society, and in the broad daylight do something of this sort," said shopper Alesia Young.
The mother of the 7-year-old girl said that wasn't all the man did. She said that, in the video, he appears to be trying to communicate with the child -- waving and apparently gesturing to her not to tell. She said the video shows that the man then continued to follow them without her knowledge.
Houston police said that, when he left the store, the daughter told her mother what had happened. The police were then called.
“This is dirty, perverted," the mother said. "This man should not be on the streets. If there are other children in the surrounding areas, he is capable of other things or attacking them.”
The mother met with police at the store Thursday afternoon. Police are now looking for the man who did this. The mother described him as a white man in his 50s, wearing a white bandanna, a green polo shirt, black shorts, long white socks and black gym shoes. The mother said she had seen him earlier in the day on a bicycle near the Fiesta Mart on Lyons Avenue.
The mother said her daughter now has nightmares and is afraid to go outside, fearing that she will see the man again. Parents said her unsettled feeling resonated with them.
"Of course, it hurts me, because these (kids) are God's gift to us," Young said.
Anyone with information on the man is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477).