Norfolk OPP are asking for the public’s help identifying three people who were witnessed watching and pointing at a three-year-old child at the beach in Port Dover on Wednesday.
Police said they learned of the incident Thursday morning after the parent of the three-year-old called them. The entire incident took place Wednesday between 2:45 p.m. and 3:15 p.m., police said.
According to investigators, the parent said they observed two men and one woman walking down the beach, and the female stop and point at their child who had been playing in the sand.
Soon after, the parent said they were approached by another beachgoer, a parent themselves, who said they too had observed the three acting suspiciously around the child, police said.
After realizing they were being watched, the three continued to walk down the beach, returning a short time later, police said. Once again, they were witnessed watching and pointing at the three-year-old.
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“The child’s father exited the water after observing this activity, and all three then immediately left and were last seen walking toward Walker Street,” said OPP Const. Ed Sanchuk.
“In this case, there was obviously a concern by the parent to contact the police,” he said. “Obviously we’re concerned because you’ve got three individuals that were seen by other parents on the beach acting suspicious around the child, so we want to identify these individuals and see exactly what their intent was.”
The woman is described as white, wearing a blue top, grey pants, and possible running shoes, while one of the men is described as wearing dark jeans, a blue shirt with a white t-shirt underneath, and sun glasses. The second man is described as wearing blue jeans and a dark long-sleeved shirt, Sanchuk said.
“If anyone in the area, at that time, had seen these individuals, or may have seen them enter a vehicle and may have gotten their licence plate number, they’re being urged to contact police or, if they wish to remain anonymous, can contact Crime Stoppers,” Sanchuk said.
“It may have been innocent, I don’t know, that’s what we need to try and find out.”
Additionally, Sanchuk stressed that if a similar scenario were to happen again that witnesses contact police immediately.
“We’re asking anyone that may have an incident like this take place again, to contact police immediately,” he said. “In this case, we weren’t able to get down there in time to possibly identify these individuals.”
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