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Attempted Kidnapping Caught On Camera At Braintree Grocery Store

BRAINTREE (CBS) - A man was arrested last Friday after police say he tried to abduct a boy from a grocery store in Braintree.

Cameras inside the South Shore India Market captured the moment 47-year-old Stephen O'Brien allegedly grabbed the one-year-old boy and walked out.

Mehtab Ahmed, an employee at the Quincy Avenue store said, "this gentleman walked in, without a shirt, grabbed the kid."

He threw the boy over his shoulder and headed straight to the back, with the boy's father trailing behind.

Stephen O'Brien
Surveillance video of Stephen O'Brien with boy over shoulder in Braintree store (WBZ-TV)

"God bless the guy. His father was very attentive where his kid was, got him and confronted the suspect," said Ahmed.

When the man started going towards the back of the store, the father confronted him and the suspect handed the boy back.

The suspect then headed out the back door, and the father notified an employee.

Ahmed said, "the father came up to me about a minute later and told me what happened."

Stephen O'Brien
Stephen O'Brien hands boy back to his father in Braintree store (WBZ-TV)

The clerk walked outside and spotted him, before running after him.

"This is where he came out. He had access right to the woods, came through had gone down this small little alley way through here," said Ahmed.

Ahmed said he clung to a tree until police arrived.

"When he heard the sirens, he started falling down and then when the first approaching officer came in, he was right here and I think he was arrested right over here," said Ahmed.

After a brief struggle, O'Brien was arrested and charged with kidnapping and resisting arrest.

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Police said Stephen O'Brien tried to abduct a young boy from a Quincy Avenue store last week. (Braintree Police Department)

Police say the parents initially thought the man was just an employee playing with their child.

"The kid learned to walk about a week ago. So this was the first time they went out and actually put him down walking in a public area and so it was pretty scary," said Ahmed.

O'Brien was arraigned on Monday and is due back in court next month.

The judge held him on a $100,000 cash bail.

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