Bishop - 4-year-old helps thwart abduction

10-4-2007

A Lone Pine boy is a hero today after preventing an abduction and keeping his family together.

Matthew Button, 4, of Lone Pine recently showed bravery and, according to his mother, “street smarts,” when a woman attempted to kidnap his 2-month-old sister. Though the would-be kidnapper escaped arrest, Matthew is his family’s hero.
Shannon McCormick and her three children, Mariah, 6, Matthew, 4 and Tylee, 2 months, were in Las Vegas for a trip the weekend of Sept. 28. While on their way back home to Lone Pine, McCormick made a quick stop at a Target store for a restroom break, taking her three children into the restroom with her.
None of the larger stalls were available, so McCormick decided to leave the children outside, but, “I told them to stand outside the door, I want to see your feet,” McCormick said. She handed Mariah 2-month-old Tylee and entered the bathroom stall.

Matthew Button and his 2-month-old sister, Tylee, at their home in Lone Pine. Matthew recently saved his sister from a possible abduction by yelling at the would-be kidnapper, drawing his mother?s attention. Photo submitted

According to McCormick, a short time later she heard Matthew, “in a very stern voice,” say, “No! Give her back to my sister.”
“I was scared,” said McCormick “I yelled out, ‘What’s happening, does someone have my baby?’”
When McCormick rushed out of the stall she found a strange woman holding Tylee and Matthew reaching up for his sister, telling the woman to give her back.
“The look on her face was etched into my mind forever. She had a smirk, I think she was crazy,” McCormick said.
As McCormick came out of the bathroom stall, the woman holding Tylee turned and ran for the restroom door. “It was three steps, I reached out and grabbed her right shoulder with my left hand and took my baby back,” McCormick said, adding that the would-be kidnapper “looked at me with that smile again and turned around and ran out the door.”
McCormick said that the woman could have made a fast getaway with Tylee if Matthew hadn’t yelled out because the restrooms in the store were located near the front entrance of the Target.
“I don’t think she was on drugs, I think she was just crazy,” McCormicksaid. “It was the weirdest thing I’ve ever been through.”
McCormick immediately found an employee at the Target store and had the police called.
The woman was not seen again.
“They were very nonchalant,” McCormick said of the officers of the Las Vegas Police Department, noting that they took a report and planned to review the security footage from the super store.
McCormick has yet to hear an update from the police department regarding the investigation, however she is proud of her children for how they handled the situation, and happy that her family is safe.
“I’ve taught them both about strangers, you don’t talk to strangers, you don’t take anything from strangers and you don’t get in a stranger’s car,” McCormick said.
“For a 4-year-old (Matthew) has street smarts, he knew it was wrong,” McCormick said, noting that Mariah was scared and taken aback by a stranger taking Tylee out of her arms.
“They’re both my heroes, and if it wasn’t for my son I probably would not have my baby. I just want him to remember what he did,” McCormick said.