A Georgia mother just wanted to take her kids to Walmart to pick up a few things for their upcoming vacation, but their shopping trip quickly took a frightening turn. Caroline Miller was shopping with her 4-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son at the store on Cobb Parkway in Acworth on March 18, 2025, when she says a man tried to steal her son right from her arms. Thankfully, the mother thwarted 56-year-old Mahendra Patel’s alleged plan, but the entire situation terrified her.
Miller told WSB-TV that she and her child were riding in a motorized cart near the pharmacy when it stopped working. Patel reportedly approached the family and asked for help finding Tylenol, a request Miller obliged.
“When I pointed my arm out this way to say this is where it was, that is when he reached down, put both of his hands on Jude, and grabbed him out of my lap,” she said.
But Miller would not give up her child. “I’m like, ‘No, no, not a, what are you doing?’ He pulled him,” Miller said, according to WSB-TV. I pulled him back. We’re tug-of-warring.”
Patel reportedly left the aisle with the Tylenol, checked out, and left the store. Thankfully, police identified him as a potential suspect from surveillance footage inside the store and in the parking lot.
Miller told WSB-TV that she used the terrifying incident as a teaching moment with her kids. “She knows to scream now,” she said. “He knows to kick and bite to get away.”
Miller’s fiancé, Jeremiah Walker, told Fox 5 the altercation really bothered her. “She was shaking for an hour after that, physically you could see she was shaking,” he said.
Police took Patel to Cobb County Jail on charges of kidnapping, simple assault, and simple battery, the news outlet reported.
Fox 5 reported that authorities are working closely with multiple law enforcement agencies to see if Patel is connected to additional crimes in the area.
Walker warned other parents to never let their guard down, no matter what.
“If you see something like that happening, you scream immediately,” he told Fox 5. “You call attention, you call for help and scream as loud as you can. That way if anything were to happen, people are looking, people are paying attention.”
