Earlier this month, an armed mother in Iowa fended off two people who reportedly attempted to kidnap her son by drawing her gun, according to multiple reports.
On Jan. 5, two people, a man and a woman, walked “repeatedly” around the front doors of an apartment complex in a Des Moines skywalk. The apartment building manager, Shay Lindberg, who had her young son with her, opened the door and asked the two people if there was a problem. One of them grabbed her child and “a struggle ensued.” The struggle ended after Lindberg drew her gun and told the man and woman to let go of her child, according to local outlet KDSM.
The man and woman who attempted to kidnap Lindberg’s son were identified as Michael Ernest Ross, 43, and Laurie Lynn Potter, 57, according to Fox News.
After the incident, Lindberg called Will Hunter, the security guard in the skywalk, and described the two individuals. Hunter was familiar with Potter, as his company collects the names of the people who create problems in the skywalk, KDSM added. He followed the pair around until the police arrived.
“Everyone’s welcome to be here,” Hunter told the outlet. “This is a public space and I respect that.”
“We do have the shelter down here and you have a lot of mental illness in the homeless community and that’s just a sad fact,” Hunter added.
Sergeant Paul Parizek of the Des Moines Police Department told the outlet that this is an example of a law-abiding gun owner protecting their loved one.
“It certainly looks like the big turning point here, the pivotal piece to keeping her child safe was the fact that she was lawfully-armed with a handgun, and she produced it and told them ‘let go of my kid,’” he said.