‘We’re just scared’: Family says stranger attempted to kidnap their children, charged at home with shovel
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE/Gray News) - A family in Kentucky said they are living in fear after a man came to their home and tried to kidnap their daughter in broad daylight Monday.
The encounter was caught on a Ring camera.
In the video, a man can be seen trying to rush into the home of Crystal Chism-Williamson.
She said it began as a normal evening, with the children playing outside.
That all quickly changed when the man approached them before grabbing a nearby shovel and charging after them.
Chism-Williamson said she and her family grew suspicious of the man early on.
“I was in the backyard, and a little boy came up and told me that there was a man walking in the alley,” she said. “I went out back to look and saw him being suspicious and walking around.”
The Williamsons said they didn’t want to be on camera for fear of their safety but told WAVE that neighbors also warned them about the man seen circling the block several times looking at the kids playing in the yard.
About 30 minutes later, he reportedly walked right up to them in their front yard.
In the Ring video, Chism-Williamson can be seen asking him what he wants and the man responds by saying, “I just want my baby back.”
She tells him that it is not his child and he needs to leave. Then the man grabs a nearby shovel and charges at the door.
”He was standing there with the shovel trying to come after my husband and had the shovel at his neck, and when he did, my husband was trying to tell him to bring it,” Chism-Williamson shared. “Then my husband yelled to grab the gun, and the guy took off and ran.”
Her husband Timothy Williamson, Jr. quickly chased after the man but returned home to check on his family after the stranger ran into an alley.
”I was just trying to protect them at all cost,” Williamson said. “If you’re going to do something, do it to me. All I can say is that God was with him. That’s all I got to tell him.”
The Williamsons said they immediately called the police shortly before 7 p.m. but officers did not arrive until 9:30 p.m.
They posted videos of the incident online and even had folks tell them the same man tried to do something similar to a 13-year-old earlier that day.
That news sparked even more panic for them.
”We’re just scared to walk around and come outside anymore,” Chism-Williamson said. “And I’ve been staying in the house besides going to the store, and coming home to lock all the doors, and making sure I had stuff around me just in case people come in.”
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