Good Samaritan Speaks Out After Attempted Abduction

By Tiani Jones
First Coast News

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- It's said it takes a village to raise a child, but just ask Lloyd Tillman Jr.

He'll tell you that, more importantly, it takes a village to protect that child.
"All this stuff going on with these kids coming up missing, and these kids getting killed. They say like 85% of kidnaps end up in death, and that's not a good thing," says Tillman.

He believes his son would have been one of those statistics, if it were not for the observant eye of a stranger.

The stranger was Temeka Doss. "He was like a homeless looking guy," she said.

Doss was trying to enjoy a basketball game, but, says she couldn't take her eye off of a man police have identified as 35-year-old Justin Hughes.

She says he was walking hand in hand with 4-year-old Lloyd Tillman III, leading him away from Bruce Park, where the boy was playing.
Doss said, "I noticed something wasn't right."

Her instincts kicked in, and she gathered up her friends and approached the man.

"When we went and surrounded the guy, he was like, 'well the father gave me permission,' and we was like his father don't even know you," she said.

The boys father says he didn't know the guy, but he wasn't about to let him get away without finding out who he was, and what he was doing with his son.

Police arrested Hughes, and he now faces kidnapping charges, but the Tillman men are doing just fine.

Their grateful that the village is still intact, raising and protecting it's children.

"I don't know the young lady's name, I've seen her before up there to the park, but I truly thank you from the bottom of my heart," said Tillman.

© 2004-2005 First Coast News