Police in Plano said a kidnapping caught on surveillance video was a hoax and that the individual who was "taken" is safe.
Investigators said several teenagers staged the kidnapped at the entrance to the Wal-Mart on the 1700 block of Dallas Parkway in Plano on Sunday afternoon.
"The kids had a predetermined idea of what they were going to do," Officer Rick McDonald said. "They went to Wal-Mart, they videotaped a make-believe kidnapping."
A surveillance video shows two of the teenagers jumping out of a white minivan, grabbing a boy standing in front of the store and then forcing him into the van. The van then sped off, nearly hitting someone on its way out of the parking lot.
Police said they had every reason to believe it was real.
"It looks like a kidnapping going down," McDonald said. "We mobilized everyone we had available to go out there and try to make sure this child was not in danger."
Customers walking in and out of the store paid no attention to the supposed abduction and did nothing to stop it. But Wal-Mart security and some witnesses called 911.
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Police said the principal of a local school recognized the teenagers in the video and contacted police.
Investigators said the participants in the hoax have been identified and told police that they filmed the event for their own enjoyment and didn't intend to alarm the public or police.
But McDonald said nothing good can come from such pranks. The "what-ifs" are all bad, he said.
What if "another person could have got in there and interfered with the entire thing happening?" McDonald said. "We really don't know what could have taken place."
Police said possible charges are pending as detectives continue to investigate the incident.
