SUMTER, SC — Police are investigating a report from a parent that a woman tried to kidnap her toddler daughter.

The mother told police her 2-year-old daughter was playing in her fenced front yard on Flamingo Road around 5:30 p.m. Monday when a woman entered the yard and tried to grab the child. The mother said she saw the attempted abduction and ran outside.

The suspect left the area and the woman brought her child inside before calling police.

The suspect is described as a black woman in her 30s, about 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing around 175 pounds. She was wearing all-black clothing and had her hair in a ponytail. She was last seen at Flamingo Road and Plowden Mill Road running toward Boulevard Road.

Investigators have information that the woman might have been seen in the area before Monday’s incident.

Anyone with information about the suspect or the incident is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (888) CRIME-SC (274-6372).

Kelly Davis