Police are investigating a reported abduction attempt of a baby at a Kohl's store on Long Island.
A mother wrote on Facebook that she was shopping in the Kohl's at the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream Friday morning with her 18-month-old son when she needed to change his diaper. She said she tried the store's family restroom, but it was locked, so she headed for the women's bathroom.
The mother said she put her baby on the changing table and started to change him when a woman walked in and said, "He is a beautiful baby." The mother said the woman appeared to be in her 40s and wore a hat and layered clothing; the woman started to open all the bathroom stalls to see if anyone was there.
The mother said she got a "horrible feeling in my chest and stomach that something was wrong." She said she gave up trying to put a clean diaper on her son and decided to pick him up and leave the restroom.
The woman then came toward her and demanded she hand the baby over, the mother said.
"I yelled, 'No. No. Stop,' and she grabbed my son's forearm and said again, 'Give me the baby,'" the mother wrote in the Facebook post.
She said she hit the woman's arm, pushed her away and fled the bathroom with her son. She explained what happened to security and police were called. She said she spent hours reviewing surveillance tapes and saw it appeared the woman who approached her in the bathroom had been directed to do so by a man in a business suit. The woman and the man in the suit left the store together in a taxi shortly after the mother ran from the bathroom, she said.
Police say they have video of the woman leaving the bathroom at the mall. They say she left behind a piece of evidence that was seized.
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Kohl's said it was cooperating with authorities and directed other questions to the local police department.
Green Acres Mall did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
