19-Year-Old Arrested for Alleged Attempted Kidnapping of 3 Young Children

A 19-year-old was arrested in connection with the attempted kidnapping of three children on Monday, Dec. 8.

Cameron Keelan, 19, was arrested and charged with attempted kidnapping, and is currently being held without bail at the Baltimore County Detention Center, Baltimore County Police confirmed in a statement.

On Thursday, Dec. 4, officers responded to a report of a “suspicious person” on Edgedale Road, the Baltimore County Police Department said.

“Preliminary investigation revealed that a male subject approached three young children in the area and attempted to persuade them to follow him away from the location,” police said.

“He came up and told my children that their parents weren’t home, and they needed to come with him,” a woman, who is the mother of two of the children Keelan allegedly attempted to kidnap in the Townson, Md., area, told Fox 45.

The woman asked to remain anonymous to protect the identity of her children.

“My son say he got close to him, but he didn’t touch him. But he got close enough to him, that he could grab him,” the woman added, before explaining that her husband heard the kids banging on the door and emerged from the home to chase Keelan away.

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“The kids said they seen him a few times and they saw him at the bus stop,” the mother continued. “I’m happy that he got caught, because what if I really wasn’t home and my kids didn’t know stranger danger.”

PEOPLE has reached out to BCPD for comment.