Bystanders stop attempted kidnapping at Ferry Building

Bystanders scrambled Monday to rescue a 3year-old boy snatched from his mother at the Ferry Building in San Francisco by a suspected would-be kidnapper, police and witnesses said.

The suspected kidnapper, who was only described as a woman in her 30s, was detained by police at the scene, said Officer Robert Rueca, a San Francisco Police Department spokesman.

Though shaken, the boy and his mother, who were visiting from Missouri, were not injured.

The episode happened around 9:30 a.m., as the mother walked with her son near the Acme Bread Co. in the main corridor of the bustling transportation and tourist hub.

The suspect, described as a transient woman by witnesses, approached the mother and son and “exchanged words” with them, Rueca said.

Then for an unknown reason, the stranger grabbed the boy, prompting a struggle, witnesses said.

Two employees from the nearby Golden Gate Meat Co. raced over and held the woman down as other nearby shop employees called 911.

“It was just strange,” said Steve Bourne, an employee at a vegan doughnut shop, who witnessed the attempted abduction and subsequent take down of the suspect by bystanders. “The homeless woman just came up and grabbed the baby.”

Police are investigating the case as an attempted kidnapping, Rueca said.