Monday morning, a visit to the Pike Place Market was one of many highlights for visiting family from California. My sister and her two girls joined myself and my two kids, along with our mother for a tour of Seattle. One of the places we spent quite some time, was at the Pike Place Fish Market (home of the flying fish) watching salmon, crabs and carp being tossed back and forth for packing.
We arrived at the market at 10:00AM. While trying to purchase a parking sticker, a fight broke out less than 20′ feet away between two homeless people. Both of which seemed less than mentally efficient. When one of them started reaching into their jacket I shuttled the rest of the family up the hill, while I looked for a parking sticker dispenser in another location. This is the first time in years that I wish I’d had my firearm on myself.
Being ‘early‘ for the hippy-type vendors, most of the outdoor vendors were still arriving, and the market was not overtly busy, but still more crowded than I’m used, after spending 8 years living on the penninsula. My son, age 6, is a pretty energetic and very independent, so he likes to try to go and check things out on his own. It’s a full-time job keeping tabs on him, especially in crowds.
If I had known that right at the same time we were at the Fish market counter, with our 4 kids, I would have left immediately. Another family from California, almost lost a child to a kidnapper at exactly the same time. The child was only 1 year younger than my own! I’m so glad this was did not happen to us, and thankful the pervert did not make it all the way to the bathroom with the boy before being foiled by the mother.
Just after 11 a.m., the boy’s mother stopped to remove a small rock that had become lodged in a cast on her foot, according to Seattle police. Her husband turned to help her and when they looked up, the couple discovered the youngest of their three children was no longer with them.
The family searched for the boy in the crowded market. The mother spotted her child being led away by a man, about 40 feet from where she was, police said. She called to her son and ran to him, with her husband and two other children, ages 6 and 7, close behind.
After watching a follow-up news cast this morning, I recalled that we actually encountered this individual while the Seattle Police where arresting them. It seemed odd at the time that there were so many Seattle PD at the market to handle this old man. Bicycle cops, patrol units and some sort of special ‘NCI TEAM’ members. He was in handcuffs and I thought little more of it at the time.
I’ll have to talk to my son today about this and try to make it clear why he just can’t take off without supervision, especially in crowds. He’s 6 and thinks he knows everything. Being a parent is by far the hardest job I’ve ever had.