An attempted kidnapping happened on Little Kid’s Wear’s last day in business at its Broadway location in Chula Vista. The store has since moved to another location on Palomar Street.
The police call came in just before 1 p.m. on Saturday.
“I was very scared when I saw all the police,” Francisco Leyva, Little Kid’s Wear manager said. “I said, ‘What happened?’ Then I came over and I saw the guy handcuffed outside.”
Leyva was there to greet 23-year-old Christopher Bullock before he got arrested, but Leyva left the store to grab something for a customer.
Get top local stories in San Diego delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC San Diego's News Headlines newsletter.
While he was gone, Leyva said Bullock was aimlessly walking around the store.
Police said Bullock stopped at a mom holding her 2-year-old boy. The mom, who doesn’t want to be identified, said Bullock yelled at her to give him her child before he grabbed her arm and she screamed.
“The lady ran with the baby to the register and the guy was chasing her,” Leyva said. “She came over here and jumped the steps. David, the manager was here, thank God. He went over and they stopped the guy. He said, ‘Nothing is going to happen to you because I'm here.’”
Local
Leyva said workers asked Bullock to leave and he wouldn’t. They called police and Bullock has been in custody since. Leyva said this was the worst incident in the store, but there have been many others over his five years at this location.
“Before, people were urinating, doing other things, there was trash, they were sleeping outside and they broke the window,” he said.
Leyva also said when he’s made reports in the past, nothing happened until now.
He wants more protections for businesses and customers.
“Why do we need to wait until something bad happens to the people, to the customers, to us, you know, to the citizens?” he said.
“I don't know what their story is. Everyone has a story I cannot say bad things about them because I don't know what happened to these people — but I'm sure there is agencies, the government — who can do something about them.”
Bullock will see a judge and answer to his attempted kidnapping charge on Wednesday and is in central jail on a $100,000 bond.
