Neighbors Save Boy From Abduction

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Newport News police arrested a 47-year-old man after they say he tried to kidnap a 3-year-old boy.

Police say the man, identified as Wesley Stuart Brown, approached the boy playing outside Thursday afternoon in Paul's Park Trailer Park off Warwick Boulevard. The suspect then put the child in a wagon and walked off right in front of the toddler's grandmother, Angie Craig.

The grandmother's screams got the neighborhood's attention and neighbors surrounded the man. Police say two women drove up and took the child from Brown and put him in their car until police arrived.

William Rhodes, on his way home from work, heard Brown say, "I'm not going to jail. Everything's ok. He wants to go with me! He wants to go with me!"

Officers got the young boy to safety and took the man into custody.

Craig said, "When [the neighbors] found out what was going on, they all came running because that's what they do here. And they do it every time, especially when it's a child."

Brown is charged with one count of Abduction.

The grandmother told police she did not know the suspect and did not know why he had taken the child.

Of the neighbors who helped protect her grandson, Craig said, "Words can't describe how much I appreciate what everyone did for me today."