Parents expect a quick run to a big-box store to be boring, not terrifying. Yet a growing stack of accounts from shoppers describe strangers trailing children through the aisles, leaving families rattled long after they walk back out to the parking lot. The latest stories center on two young girls followed through Walmart, a setting that is supposed to feel as routine as grabbing milk on the way home.
Those accounts are landing in a country already on edge about child safety in public spaces. Between social media posts, police reports and local TV coverage, a pattern is starting to emerge: parents feel they are doing everything right, but a simple trip for greeting cards or fishing gear can flip in seconds.
The Walmart aisle that stopped feeling safe
The image is familiar to almost every parent: kids wandering a few steps ahead in a brightly lit superstore while adults juggle carts and shopping lists. That everyday scene is exactly what families describe when they say a stranger locked onto their children and would not back off. In one case, a mother said a man followed her daughters from the fishing aisle through home goods inside a Walmart store, mirroring every turn they made. She later wrote that the two adults trailing them only peeled off after she confronted them and loudly mentioned calling police, a moment that turned a casual errand into a tactical decision about how to get her kids out of the building.
More parents describe similarly unsettling encounters. A shopper in Lynchburg, Virginia warned neighbors in a community group that, as she put it, “FYI: There is a creepy dude at Old Forest Walmart” who “kind of cornered” her young nieces and stood “toe to toe staring” at them, a post that sparked replies like “Just be careful” and “Ladies, be careful and Carry” inside the Old Forest Walmart thread. The language in those comments captures a mood that has become common: people are not sure whether what they saw was a crime, but they are certain it felt wrong enough to broadcast to hundreds of strangers.
When fear crosses into alleged crime
Some incidents do not stay in the gray zone of “creepy” and instead jump straight into criminal charges. Earlier this year, Lincolnton Police said a man was arrested after allegedly attempting to kidnap a child and assaulting another child inside a Walmart, a case that moved quickly from suspicious behavior to accusations of direct physical contact. In a separate incident covered by reporter Ken Lemon, a family that went to buy Valentine’s Day cards said a man tried to grab their daughters in a greeting card aisle, and the man accused of now faces multiple charges. The mother told investigators her nine year old was so shaken she struggled to talk about what happened, a detail that underlines how quickly a store aisle can turn into a crime scene in a child’s memory.
Video coverage of that case shows just how fast the situation unfolded. In the broadcast segment, the mother recounts how the suspect allegedly grabbed her daughter “again right in front of her,” the kind of phrase that sticks with any parent who has let a child walk a few steps ahead in a store. Another clip shared by KSLA featured moms who said a man attempted to kidnap their daughters in a Walmart greeting card aisle, a story posted by KSLA News that quickly drew heavy engagement. In a separate reel, officers said they safely secured a child and arrested a woman on attempted aggravated charges while they continued to investigate what led up to the incident, according to a brief shared by Officers on social media.
In the Valentine’s Day card case, court records cited in local coverage show the suspect facing a stack of counts, and the station’s own member center promoted continuing updates on the multiple charges. The station’s public files for WSOC TV and WAXN TV, along with its newsletter hub, show how seriously it treats ongoing crime reporting. The newsroom’s social feeds, including Facebook and Twitter, have amplified the story, which in turn feeds more parent comments about similar experiences.
Social media warnings and what parents are doing now
Long before police step in, parents are writing their own public-service announcements. One widely shared post came from a shopper who said strangers followed her through a store as she shopped with her children, a story that “strikes a chord” because it mirrors what so many others describe. Her Facebook post described how the men seemed to shadow her path, and readers flooded the comments with their own near misses and coping tactics. One reader, identified as Rourke, Kali in the story’s text, responded to critics by saying she would rather be accused of being too cautious than regret staying quiet, a sentiment that has become a kind of unofficial motto in these threads.
More from Decluttering Mom: