BILLINGS — A Billings mother is warning other parents about stranger danger after her son was approached by an unknown man Wednesday afternoon.
Nine-year-old Mason Shelton was riding his bike in front of his house.
“Mason, my son, had asked if he could go outside, ride his bike, play around,” Amber Young, Shelton’s mom said Thursday.
Watch Amber Young talk about this scary situation:
Young was waiting for groceries to be delivered to her home. When the delivery arrived, she noticed a dark blue van sitting in her driveway with Shelton standing near it.
Shelton said that the unknown man asked him for directions to a park.
“I went to go get my shoes, (so) I can go talk to this guy. By the time I got my shoes and got outside, the guy had sped around the corner down at the end of my hill here,” Young said.
Young, concerned, began to ask her son questions about who this person was.
“Who is this guy? Is it a friend's dad? Is it a neighbor or something?” Young said.
Thoughts of what could’ve happened flooded her mind.
“It immediately put me in my mind of, 'Oh my God, someone's trying to take my child.' Like, what if they did take him? What if they tried to force him in the vehicle? Where would my child be?” Young said.
Following the encounter, Young did call the police to report what happened. She also took the time to remind her son of being cautious around strangers.
“As much as you want to help and be a nice person, it can go south really, really, really easily,” Young said.
Considering the experience, Young plans to get a security system installed soon.
While it was a scary event, Young expressed gratitude that Shelton came out unharmed.
“He's safe, unharmed, but this was a very scary situation,” Young said. “This could have gone in a very different direction, easily.”
