Perilous Parking Lot Practice by Predators?

     The Mall and Target seem to be favorite places for ill-doers to hang out. Do not get me wrong, people of any gender should be aware of their surroundings at all times because bad people do exist. However, sensationalism of evil doings by posting accounts of fictional occurrences via email is akin to yelling "fire" in a theater. One might counter with a statement such as, "Well, it could happen." If that is the argument, then society has much ground to make up as far as warning the population about things that could happen, but have not actually ever occurred before. Besides, I thought that is what movies were for.

THE ORIGINAL MESSAGE:

Needs to be read!!
 A new way to abduct a female very scary

NEW RAPE SCAM!!!! PLEASE  READ!!!!!

Please pass on to all your girlfriends, wives, etc.  Just to be on the safe side. Please be aware and
pass it on to anyone you think this will help.

Sunday afternoon around 5 PM I headed into the Target.  It was still light outside and I parked fairly close to the entrance.  As I got out of my car and began walking towards Target, an older lady shouted to me
from the passenger seat of a car about 30 feet away from me.

"Ma'am you must help me, help me please, help me Ma'am!" I looked at her in the eyes and started to walk towards her when all of a sudden I remembered an email my Mom had sent me a week or two ago
about rapists and abductions using elderly people to lure women in.

I paused, memorized the license plate and immediately headed into Target to get a manager to come help this lady, just in case something was up. While the woman manager headed out there, I kept a close watch just
because I was curious what was wrong with the lady and wanted to be sure nothing happened.

As the Target lady walked up towards the car and got very close to the old woman in order to help her, the back door of the car flies open and a large man with a stocking cap on, jumps out and sticks a gun to the
lady's stomach as he shoves her into the back of the car. I yelled out "call 911" several times and just as I was saying that, a policeman who happened to be on the other side of the parking lot! And who, luckily had seen the entire thing happen, raced over to the car.

He was able to stop the car and arrest the male as well as the old lady, who was involved in the scheme… By God's grace everyone was all right, including myself, although I think we were both shaken up.

Like many of you, I would not in a million years have left an elderly person who was yelling for help if it weren't for the e-mail I had read last week. So, I wanted to pass this along so you all can be aware and remember that you really can't trust anyone these days.

You just never know when something like this could happen. I would have never dreamed it to happen to me especially on a Sunday afternoon at a Target in a safe area!

It definitely was not a coincidence that my Mom sent that email just a few days before this all happened. Please, be careful and always be aware of your surroundings. Just because you individually don't go over to help someone doesn't mean you have to leave them in trouble but don't go ALONE, you really don't know what might be going on.

This was checked with Snopes.com <http://snopes.com/>  http: //snopescom/ - this is true and they also use children to lure the victim !!

Please pass on to all your girlfriends, wives, etc. Just to be on the safe side. Please be aware and
pass it on to anyone you think this will help.


SLAYER'S RESPONSE:

     At the end of the message, the author urges the reader to validate the information via the Snopes website. Snopes' response to this claim was "Er--no, we don't say that. In fact, we say the exact opposite. The story is false." Since the source given in the email body refutes the claim, this is good enough for me. Using a reference in such a manner reminds me of using a sworn enemy as a job reference. I did find it particularly amusing that the alleged first person in the message had no issue with throwing the Target manager under the bus. She was also very helpful by yelling "call 911" several times. I don't know, but she almost sounds like an accomplice to me. Anyway, be aware of your surroundings but please do not stop helping older women and children who may be in need.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

~Slayer
    
http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/wheaton.asp