Mom shares warning after kids' near-kidnapping caught on camera
Safety experts say parents should talk to kids as back-to-school season starts.
A Texas mother is speaking out after a near-kidnapping of her children and their friends was caught on her home security camera.
Genna Skolnik first shared her door camera footage with ABC News affiliate WFAA and said the incident unfolded Monday. The Dallas mom and her sons Zachary and Jonathan also spoke to "Good Morning America," recalling what happened when two vehicles pulled up near the boys and their 9-year-old friends, who were having a playdate outside.
"I heard screaming and I thought, and I could hear commotion outside," Skolnik said.
Zachary recalled when he suspected the encounter took a turn.
"We get onto the sidewalk and we try to skip past and I hear the driver's telling my friends to get into their car," he said.
The boys were caught on camera taking off, running and screaming.
"I was the first one at the door screaming, 'Someone's trying to kidnap us!'" Zachary said.
Door camera video shows a man in a white T-shirt and shorts getting out of a white SUV and running after Skolnik's son Jonathan.
Jonathan said the man was calling to him, trying to lure him into the SUV.
"He said, 'There's a football in the back of the car.' And then, we should get in the back of the car. Then I said, 'I'm sorry. I don't talk to strangers and I ran away,'" Jonathan recounted.
Skolnik later came outside with a cell phone camera in her hand and the suspect noticed her and left the scene but she was able to get a picture of the SUV's license plate, which she shared with ABC News.
Earlier on Monday, just miles away from Skolnik's home, another near kidnapping was also caught on camera.
In another security video, a teenage girl can be seen hiding behind a neighbor's car trying to avoid being taken by a man.
The car's owner, Shane Burke, told "GMA" the teenager came to his door for help.
"She said that somebody that she didn't know had been following her, kind of gawking at her, staring at her, making her feel uncomfortable. She was extremely shook up," Burke said.
Safety experts like Callahan Walsh, the executive director of the Florida office of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, say as children head back to school, parents and caregivers should have conversations and remind kids about what to do when walking, waiting at bus stops and how to stay safe.
"Children should be very wary of strangers that are in a car approaching them," Walsh told "GMA." "We know that the vast majority of attempted abductions and successful abductions use a vehicle. We know that the perpetrators are using the same lures, like asking for directions, looking for a lost puppy, or having candy. And so, parents need to be talking to their children about identifying these risky situations and knowing how to avoid them."
Experts also remind parents not to include children's names on backpacks so strangers don't call a child's name and confuse them. They also recommend parents limit the information they share on social media about their kids and avoid posting back-to-school pictures which share a child's age, school, grade and other identifiable information.
Authorities are still searching for suspects in both attempted kidnapping cases in Texas and say both cases do not appear to be related.
The Skolniks say they feel lucky following the attempted kidnapping incident.
"We were very lucky. And we're very grateful," Genna Skolnik said.
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