Attempted Child Abduction Reported at Fox Park: Oak Park Police

Oak Park, IL - Oak Park police are investigating an April 25 incident where a suspicious man picked up a child at Fox Park in what might have been an attempted child abduction.

Witnesses told police Monday morning that a man who walked by the park while talking to himself in a foreign language stopped and called in English to two children in the playground area.

The children approached the man, who knelt down and high-fived one of them through the fence, according to Oak Park police. The man then stood, reached over the fence, picked up the other child and turned as though he was going to walk away.

Witnesses and the child's caretaker confronted the man, and he put down the child. He was last seen walking southbound on Oak Park Avenue toward Jackson Boulevard.

The person is described as a black man, about 25 to 35 years old, 5 feet 10 inches to 5 feet 11 inches tall with a stocky build, a dark complexion, a round face and dark eyes, according to police. He may have had a mustache, and he was described as having bushy sideburns.

He was reportedly wearing a black hat, a black long-sleeve shirt, black pants, black fingerless gloves and possibly a black jacket or sweater tied around his waist.

Anyone with information about this person is asked to call Oak Park police at 708-386-3800.