A MUM has shared how a visit to the local library almost ended up in horror after a close-call ‘baby kidnap’.
Mum-of-four Jess said she was at the library with her three kids and baby when she noticed a lone woman who looked ”a little weird”.
As the woman, who was wearing a face mask, had a tag on, Jess assumed she was a worker.
”I literally was like, ‘Oh, that’s nice, this library hires special needs people’, like that was my thought,” she recalled the horrifying incident in the video .
At one point, as Jess was looking through children’s books – whilst also keeping a look at her kids – the woman approached her.
According to Jess, who had recently moved to the ”family-oriented” neighbourhood, the unexpected conversation started by the woman complimenting her bag.
But after some time, the two were joined by a man – who later claimed the woman, whom he’d allegedly met there decades ago, was his wife.
”I’m holding my baby, my eight-month-old and the woman’s telling me how she could never have kids, and she was like, ‘Oh, your baby is so beautiful, I can never have kids but I have nieces’.
”I’m thinking, ‘This woman is kind of special needs’.
”All of the sudden, the woman is like, ‘Can I hold her?,” Jess recalled the situation, adding her baby ”usually freaks out and screams when anybody gets near her”.
”And because we’re in a different world here, people are friendly or whatever, I was like, ‘Well, you can try but she’s probably going to freak out’.
”This is my mistake, I know everybody, this is my mistake – and I will always feel guilty about this.”
All of a sudden, Jess continued, the woman asked the baby if she wanted ”to go bye-bye”.
Without much hesitation, the mum-of-four immediately grabbed her daughter out of the stranger’s hands.
”I didn’t start flipping out yet. I was just like, ‘No, no, she needs to eat’ and I’m pulling her back.
”The woman, she wasn’t resisting but she also wasn’t like, ‘Oh, here you go’ – it was this weird thing.”
As the couple swiftly leave, a library worker checked up on Jess – before revealing the woman did not work there.
”I’m crying. I’m new to this small town feeling – I’m used to the big cities where nobody is nice and nobody talks.
”I’m trying to mesh in with the community,” the mum went on.
Some time passed and, still in a state of shock, Jess sat down with her girls, keeping an eye of them at all times.
But a while later, the couple return to the library – and they sit down just 40ft away from the family.
”They’re just staring at us. I immediately got my phone out and got a picture of them.”
Petrified, Jess then took her children to the library worker and asks her to scream in case the pair leave the place right after them.
The mum-of-four managed to get all the children inside her car, which she then locked, and had a chat with the worker.
”I’m like, ‘What is the deal? What is the deal with this place? Should I not bring my kids here anymore?’
The worker, who’s lived in the area ”for a very long time”, said ”this is safe”.
”She’s like, ‘I’ve never seen these people before. The only thing I can think of there is a homeless shelter down the road and sometimes you get homeless people in here, they just want the A/C or whatever, none of them have ever caused any problems’.”
Jess, who then filed a report at the police station , urgent fellow parents to be extra careful with their kids.
”Be vigilant, be aware.”
The mum, who posts under the username @ heavenlyhomeschool , went on in the caption: ”Yes I know I made a lot of mistakes here but please listen and use me as an example because even if these were just ‘weird overly friendly’ old homeless people, it could have turned into something more and I’m not naive to that reality.”
‘Never feel you’re being disrespectful’
Uploaded just one day ago, the horrific incident has already gone viral, racking up more than 4.7million views.
As over 6,400 people flooded to comments, one said: ”Here in Chicago adults are not allowed in kids sections unless you have a child with you. So sorry you had to experience this scary situation.”
Many also urged Jess to ”heck for air tags” which the couple may have put on the baby to track her.
A third wrote: ”Do not feel guilty. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
”Normal people don’t ask to hold someone else’s baby. Never feel you’re being disrespectful, follow your intuition,”a viewer chimed in.
”Smile and walk away gather your kids and tell the security guard.”
