The terrifying moment a one-year-old boy was kidnapped from a grocery store outside of Boston has been captured on CCTV footage.
Walking into South Shore India Market in Braintree on 12 August, 47-year-old man Stephen O’Brien can clearly be seen on camera scooping up a young boy, tossing him onto his shoulder playfully, and walking quickly toward the back of the store.
O'Brien hands the young boy back to his father. Source: CBS News.
"This gentleman walked in without a shirt and just grabbed the kid," store attendant Mehtab Ahmed told CBS News.
The boy's father, also on camera, can be seen following quickly behind, clearly confused as to what is happening. The boy's parents later told told police they initially believed O'Brien was a store clerk who was playing with their child.
Moments later, CCTV footage then shows the father confronting a shirtless O'Brien at the back of the store and grabbing his son back, who was thankfully unharmed.
Stephen O'Brien following his arrest. Source: CBS News.
The father then alerted Ahmed, who phoned police and chased the suspect into the woods behind the store. It was there that O'Brien was arrested and charged with kidnaping.
"His father was very attentive to where his kid was and got him, and confronted the suspect " Ahmed said, adding, "the kid learned to walk about a week ago, so this was the first time they [the family] went out and actually put him down walking in a public area. And this happened. It was pretty scary."
Ahmed shows CBS where O'Brien escaped to following the kidnapping. Post continues...
Ahmed also told CBS that O'Brien clung to a tree until police arrived, and then resisted arrest.
"When he heard the sirens he started falling down... and when the first approaching officer came in he was right here," Ahmed said, pointing to an area of the woods.
O'Brien was arraigned on Monday and is currently being held on a $100,000USD cash bail.
