A Jacksonville mother says a man tried to lure her 5-year-old daughter and the girl’s friend away from a park inside the Jacksonville Zoo, introducing himself as “Barbie” and claiming he knew the girls’ parents before fleeing when one of the children ran for help. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office is now investigating what the mother describes as an attempted kidnapping.
The mother, who spoke anonymously to protect her daughter’s identity, told Action News Jax that the incident happened last Friday around 1:30 p.m., when the man approached the two girls at a park within the zoo and tried to coax them away. He told them he had watched them take swim lessons at the pool and said he knew their parents, according to the mother’s account.
The girls did not go with him. When her daughter’s friend ran to get her mother, the man took off, the mother said. She described him as bald, with no tattoos, facial hair or scars, wearing a black shirt, blue jeans and a black backpack.
A Shaken Child And A Grateful Mother
The mother said her daughter cried once she explained what the man had been trying to do, and that the little girl wouldn’t let her be put down for roughly two hours afterward. Despite the fear of that afternoon, the mother said her daughter is safe now and that she wanted other parents to be aware of what happened. She credited her daughter’s friend with reacting quickly and getting help before the situation could escalate.
Delay In Alerting Police Raises Questions
According to the mother, zoo security told her that another incident involving a different child had happened earlier that same day, and that staff needed to gather more evidence before contacting the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. The zoo did not report the incident to JSO until Saturday, nearly 24 hours after the encounter, per the same account. The mother said that once security did get involved, staff worked quickly and diligently, were kind to her family and helped them feel safe.
Action News Jax reached out to the Jacksonville Zoo to ask why it waited to contact JSO and whether additional incidents had occurred, but the zoo had not responded to those questions at the time of the station’s report.
Not The First Warning From A Zoo Visitor
This isn’t the first time a parent has raised an alarm about a child’s safety at the attraction. In 2020, another mother told eu.jacksonville.com that two men had followed her and her foster daughter around to different exhibits during a visit. In that earlier case, the zoo said it activated its security protocol but could not find anyone matching the description given, and the mother ultimately filed a police report after asking staff to escort her to her car.
Attempted child-luring reports aren’t unique to Jacksonville. In Chicago, police warned Northwest Side residents after a man with a gray or black dog allegedly tried to lure a 13-year-old girl walking through Portage Park on a Tuesday morning, according to CBS News Chicago. That girl ran into a nearby building to alert park officials, and the man fled before police could locate him.
In Jacksonville, the sheriff’s office investigation into last Friday’s encounter remains open. The mother said her main goal in coming forward was making sure other families keep a close eye on their kids at the zoo.
