'Extremely scary': Experts provide safety tips for kids after attempted abduction in Langford
'Extremely scary': Experts provide safety tips for kids after attempted abduction in Langford
A community is on edge after an abduction attempt in the parking lot of the Shoppers Drug Mart at the West Shore Town Centre in Langford, B.C., on Monday night.
Mounties tell CTV News they believe the 17-year-old female victim was targeted and believe it was an isolated incident.
"This is an extremely scary situation," said Lindsay Lobb, senior support services manager with the Canadian Centre for Child Protection.
Lobb says the young woman did everything right.
She was leaning into the back of her car when a man approached her from behind, pushing her into the backseat and shutting the door behind her, police say.
The victim then had the sense to lock the car doors using her fob before another man could jump into the driver's seat.
"It’s really understandable that parents would be shaken and that they would be worried about their own children after reading a story like this," said Lobb.
SAFETY TIPS
She says there are safety strategies that parents should discuss with their children in order to keep them safe.
She recommends that young kids never travel alone.
"The buddy system really is an effective system in terms of helping children to stay safe," she said.
For older children or teenagers, if you find yourself in an uncomfortable scenario, be loud and draw attention to the situation so others can help, Lobb says.
Older youth should also always have a plan and let a parent know where they are going and when they expect to be home. Finally, if you're nervous, ask a store employee or mall security to accompany you to your vehicle.
"While this is every parent's worst nightmare, these situations are very rare," said Lobb.
Brandon Laur is a digital literacy instructor and CEO of The White Hatter Studio. He says if you are on social media steps can be taken to protect your safety.
"Both online and physically," said Laur.
He recommends locking down your social networks so only friends can see what you are up to and what photos you're posting.
"If you’re using Snapchat, making sure Snap Maps are turned on to privatize so your friends or people you’ve just followed, who may not be your close friends, don’t see your exact pinpoint location," said Laur.
It's unknown what the relationship is between the victim and the suspects in this supposed targeted attack, if any.
The male suspects are still at large, and they're described as being in their late 20s or early 30s with facial hair and dark complexions.
West Shore RCMP say since Tuesday’s new coverage, tips have begun to roll-in. They are still looking for any dashcam footage from the area Monday night.
Beyonce stands alone on her Grammy throne: With her fourth win Sunday night, she has become the most decorated artist in the show's history surpassing the 26-year-old record once held by the late Hungarian-British conductor Georg Solti.
Groups that advocate for seafarers are expressing concern for 11 sailors who are spending a harsh Quebec winter aboard three tugboats that have been detained for months in the port of Trois-Rivières.
She started throwing punches to get exercise during the COVID-19 pandemic, but now 17-year-old Talia Birch is gearing up to compete in the Canada Games as it opens up to female boxers for the first time
Charles Kimbrough, a Tony- and Emmy-nominated actor who played a straight-laced news anchor opposite Candice Bergen on “Murphy Brown,” died Jan. 11 in Culver City, California. He was 86.
Canadian researchers are drawing attention to the increasing prevalence of 'a pathological pursuit of muscularity' among Canadian boys and young men, with a new study that found one in four were at risk of developing what's known as muscle dysmorphia.
A Montreal woman is passing along her father's extensive collection of over 31,000 Expos baseball cards. April Whitzman's father, Steve Whitzman, collected the cards from 1969 to 2016. A huge Expos fan, he's got every player covered.
Singer-songwriter Tobias Jesso Jr. became a first-time Grammy Award winner at the pre-broadcast ceremony where fellow Canadians Michael Buble and Drake also picked up trophies.
Canada has sent one of its military planes to Haiti to help the country cope with escalating violence. A joint statement today from National Defence Minister Anita Anand and Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly says Canada has deployed a CP-140 Aurora aircraft to help 'disrupt the activities of gangs' in Haiti.
Tucked away on a residential street in Langley, there's a blue cabinet filled with VHS tapes and DVDs bearing the once-familiar logo of Blockbuster video.
The City of Vancouver will be providing $2.8 million in funding to the local health authority to bolster the city’s mental health services, officials announced Sunday.
Toronto police have identified the victim of a fatal hit-and-run on the Danforth early Sunday morning, which police say is now being treated as a homicide.
Councillors in Toronto are set to consider keeping warming centres open 24-7 for the rest of the winter amid growing calls for homelessness to be declared a public health crisis in the city.
Montreal conductor and pianist Yannick Nézet-Séguin scored two Grammys for his classical works Sunday evening. Nézet-Séguin won best opera recording for "Blanchard: Fire Shut Up In My Bones," and best classical solo vocal album for "Voice Of Nature - The Anthropocene."
Groups that advocate for seafarers are expressing concern for 11 sailors who are spending a harsh Quebec winter aboard three tugboats that have been detained for months in the port of Trois-Rivières.
The Quebec Liberal Party (QLP) will announce its candidate for the Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne riding Monday morning, almost three months after former party leader Dominique Anglade announced her resignation.
After one of the coldest days in years for most of the Maritimes, temperatures were up significantly Sunday. Now, after the big chill came the big thaw -- and a flood of calls for local plumbers.
Cold weather alerts that blanketed eastern Canada for the past two days have largely lifted, but some Nova Scotians and New Brunswickers remain without power due to outages caused by the frigid temperatures and high winds.
New Brunswick RCMP has requested the Nova Scotia Serious Incident Response Team (SiRT) conduct an inquiry after a man died during a police response Saturday.
An armed robbery at Conestoga Mall, a hearing on a 2018 Kitchener house explosion, and a school cancelling Valentine's Day round out the most ready stories of the week.
Jayson Reddekopp has been a Lego collector since he was a kid. Now in his second year of university, he’s bringing his passion to life using just his Lego pieces and an iPhone.
Jayson Reddekopp has been a Lego collector since he was a kid. Now in his second year of university, he’s bringing his passion to life using just his Lego pieces and an iPhone.
Greater Sudbury Police Service say it has charged a man and a woman with multiple offences following the investigation into an online ad selling a cellular phone.
Canadian researchers are drawing attention to the increasing prevalence of 'a pathological pursuit of muscularity' among Canadian boys and young men, with a new study that found one in four were at risk of developing what's known as muscle dysmorphia.
A teen is in hospital with serious but not life-threatening injuries following an incident in the Greater Sudbury community of Coniston Saturday evening.
