Mom finds razor blades on slide as daughter played at Alaska park, she says

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU/Gray News) - Police are investigating the placement of razor blades at a park in Alaska after a mom said her 3-year-old had a close call with them on a slide.

Anchorage police said they found more razors next to the staircase of the playground structure at Schroeder Park in the Eagle River community over the weekend. Officers have been walking the park regularly to look for dangerous items.

While there have been no injuries reported, at least one family had a frightening experience. On Oct. 8, Felicia Pope, her husband and their daughter, Abigail, were playing at the park.

Pope says her daughter was on the playground structure and preparing to go down the slide when she noticed razor blades on it. Pope made a mad dash toward her daughter.

“I ran as fast as my body would let me run — even faster,” Pope said. “And if you see the playground, I had to crawl underneath really quickly and jump back up and grab her. It all happened so quickly.”

Abigail was within inches of sliding into the razor blade, Pope recounted. She said she was only able to see the blades on the spiraled slide because of where she was standing in the park.

“It was designed to catch a kid at max force with gravity working against them. It was designed to harm,” the mom said.

Pope’s family moved to Alaska a year and a half ago to live somewhere safer, she said, and the incident reminded her of their time on the East Coast.

“We are from the East Coast, the greater Philadelphia area. I’ve never heard of anybody putting razor blades (on slides), but I have heard of children being killed by stray bullets,” Pope said. “We left that area and traveled 4,000 miles to the Last Frontier to get back to some old-fashioned ways of living.”

Pope said Abigail spent the first several days since after the incident struggling to drive or be near parks.

“She would start yelling and screaming,” Pope said. “Up until today, she’s not been comfortable near the park.”

Police said no suspects have been identified yet.

Copyright 2023 KTUU via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.