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Families in Brantford have been anxiously waiting for answers from police about an incident that happened at a local convenience store on Oct. 7 but on Wednesday, authorities released more information.
Olena Shad wasn’t worried about letting her 10-year-old son go take his bike for a short trip to the local Circle K. It was Thanksgiving weekend and he was with a group of friends.
But when her son came home, a bizarre story set off several red flags.
“After the kids were ready to leave store… (a) couple offered to purchase them candy or whatever they wanted at the store,” Shad told Global News.
“The kids accepted it, and after that the kids were offered if they would like to have a ride home.”
Shad went on to say that the children said the man and woman also asked for their name and to shake hands and that they were very friendly.
Immediately the parents of the children called police. Their primary concern was that the kids were being targeted.
“You don’t ever want anything like this to happen that could be absolutely a worst parent nightmare,” Shad said.
Police sent an officer that night to interview the children about what had happened. But for a week-and-a-half, the families said they didn’t get an update on the investigation despite repeatedly following up.
After Global News called on Tuesday, a media release was sent out with pictures of a man and woman. Parents told Global News the children immediately recognized the people in photo. One of the parents also mentioned the man had been in the store the previous day. Overnight, police said they were able to identify the pair and have also spoken with them.
“It is not believed that there is criminality in nature in this incident,” Const. Shane Seibert told Global News.
“There is still some more follow up investigation to be conducted.”
When it came to releasing any details, officers said they ran into some issues.
“Unfortunately in regards to the technical difficulties in receiving information it delayed the media release and delayed the information being put out to the public,” he said
Since then, Shad said the woman in the picture has commented on the incident through Facebook saying she didn’t mean any harm.
“They said they didn’t mean anything bad and they were just trying to help struggling kids in the store,” Shad said.
But she said that doesn’t bring much comfort to the families involved.
“Every normal adult knows not to approach other children, that aren’t your own,” Shad said.
“We used to see and we used to think our neighbourhood is safe other otherwise we would never let our kids go by themselves to store … It used to be a very safe neighbourhood until now.”
While no charges have been laid, police said the investigation is active and ongoing.
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