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Chambersburg community shaken up after attempted abduction of 3-year-old boy

CHAMBERSBURG, FRANKLIN COUNTY, Pa. — Police in Chambersburg are searching for the man who allegedly attempted to abduct a 3-year-old little boy from his h...
WEB ABDUCTION

CHAMBERSBURG, FRANKLIN COUNTY, Pa. -- Police in Chambersburg are searching for the man who allegedly attempted to abduct a 3-year-old little boy from his home on Monday night.

“The man walked up behind him, reached around and grabbed him around by the mouth and picked him up to turn and run," said Zachary Smith, the boy's father.

Zachary Smith says he and his family were barbecuing on Memorial Day. Within minutes, the Smith family says their Memorial Day celebration went from fun and games to their worst nightmare.

 “This happened literally within a minute, they were unsupervised for minute and this guy did this," added Smith.

Zachary Smith says his 3-year-old son was out in front of their Park Avenue home, playing with his 5-year-old sister when suddenly a man walking by tried to grab the young boy, covering his mouth.

That’s when his 5-year-old sister who was with him, began to scream for help, scaring the man, forcing him to drop her brother.

“She ran up to the guy and was telling him to drop her brother and then screaming first instinct for her brother and for us," said Smith.

That saved her brother from being taken.

"He turned back to look at her and dropped him on the concrete," added Smith.

The man took off running towards Wilson College on Edgar Avenue just 100 yards from the home.

“When I came out front, she had her little brother's hand in a death grip, he was shaking, she was shaking," added Smith. “She starts spitting out everything saying the guy was wearing a shirt that was wearing a red shirt, red at the top, white at the bottom, black lettering, she gave me some of the letters but we couldn’t put anything together, which is why we are working with the police department to piece things together right now," said Smith.

Paula Bair, who lives across the street, says there are several kids in the neighborhood and is surprised this happened on her block.

“I just heard them over these having a good ole’ time and I thought they sound like they are having fun," said Bair. “It’s scary because you know, you never think something like that is going to happen in your neighborhood," added Bair.

Which is why Smith says he wants other parents to remember this could happen to anyone.

“I was horrified just knowing that we’ve lived here for over a year and  we leave the door open and the kids can play out back, all of the neighborhood kids play right here in the front and we’ve never had a problem with this," said Smith.“I never ever thought that in a million years I would have to deal with this and this was a really scary situation, this was a close call," he added.

The investigation is ongoing.

Chambersburg Police are working with the FBI and put out a state-wide alert to see if there have been other similar reported incidents.

They say the man may have a goatee and is bald —  he may have also possibly left the scene in a light blue Chevy pick up with a white bed cover.

Police are asking anyone who may have seen or heard anything to contact Chambersburg Police Department at:  (717) 264-4131.

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