Students at Crescentwood Elementary alerted teachers after an unknown man approached them during recess on Sept. 24, according to Eastpointe Community Schools. Staff brought the students inside, secured the school perimeter and called 911.
In a 911 call and police footage broadcast by FOX 2, a school employee said the man was trying to draw children toward him by saying, “Come here. Come with him.” The caller said teachers were following the man after he left the playground.
Warren officers found 48-year-old BB Wali-Omar Williams near the school and took him into custody. No student was taken or injured, a Warren police official told FOX 2.
Williams now faces felony counts of kidnapping, child enticement, and assaulting, resisting, or obstructing a police officer, along with misdemeanor trespass. He pleaded not guilty, and the case remains open.
What Officers Recorded
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The school employee told the dispatcher that students were at recess when the man began speaking to them. “He’s trying to lure the kids by telling them to come here. Come with him,” the employee said. Teachers kept the man in sight as he left the playground, according to the call.
The body-camera excerpt begins after an officer located Williams on a street near the school. Williams was holding sticks, and the officer repeatedly directed him to drop them and open his hands. When Williams moved closer, the officer told him to step back because he was “getting too close for comfort.”
The officer then asked what Williams had been doing at the school. “I was looking at the kids,” Williams answered. Asked why, he said, “Because I want to look at the kids.” The exchange documents what Williams told police, but it does not establish his intent, which remains a matter for the court.
WXYZ reported that officers arrested Williams nearby moments after the 911 call. The published excerpts show the initial contact but not the entire arrest. The public court docket lists the resisting-or-obstructing count without describing the conduct prosecutors say supports it.
The Charge and Court Schedule
Michigan’s child-enticement statute applies when a person maliciously, forcibly, or fraudulently leads, takes, carries away, decoys, or entices away a child younger than 14 with the intent to detain or conceal the child from a parent, guardian, or other lawful custodian. A conviction can carry life imprisonment or any term of years.
The 37th District Court docket uses that statute’s charge label and does not mark the count as attempted. That differs from early television reports that described the accusation as attempted kidnapping.
Judge John M. Chmura set a $250,000 cash-or-surety bond at Williams’ Sept. 25 arraignment. The docket records his not-guilty plea and does not indicate that the bond has been posted. A probable cause conference was held on Oct. 8, and a preliminary examination is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Oct. 22.
How the School Responded
The district’s first statement said students immediately reported the stranger to teachers who were monitoring recess. Staff moved everyone into the building, secured the perimeter, and notified police, who took Williams into custody shortly afterward.
“The physical and emotional safety of our students remains our highest priority,” the district said in the statement provided to WXYZ on the day of the incident. It also commended the students for notifying adults and thanked staff and local law enforcement for acting quickly.
In a later statement to FOX 2, the district said its established safety procedures had been followed. It called the incident a reminder for school staff, parents and students to remain aware of their surroundings and report safety concerns. The statement did not announce a fence, controlled entrance or other physical change to the playground.
Parents interviewed by local stations focused on that open access. One parent told FOX 2 that recess monitors needed to pay closer attention to the surrounding area. Another told WXYZ that the playground should have a fence and a sign-in point.
The Playground Access Question
FOX 2’s field report showed an approach to the playground marked by a metal guardrail that a person could walk around. The footage explains why parents have focused on access, but it does not show the full property line or every way into the playground.
The Michigan State Police Office of School Safety has published recommendations for outdoor school spaces. They advise schools to restrict physical access by unauthorized people, keep educators in contact with administrators and conduct emergency drills. The guidance also tells schools to instruct students to immediately report any unfamiliar person who approaches or speaks to them.
The students’ response at Crescentwood followed that reporting recommendation. The state guidance does not prescribe a fence for every playground. It advises schools to notify local law enforcement and local emergency managers, who may have recommendations for securing a particular site.
Kidnapping Research in Context
Public crime totals do not provide a clean measure of how often adults try to lure children from Warren or Macomb County playgrounds. Kidnapping data combine different relationships and circumstances, while the best-known federal study uses a much narrower definition than Michigan’s child-enticement law.
A U.S. Justice Department study published in 2016 estimated 105 child victims of “stereotypical kidnappings” nationwide in 2011. Its definition required a stranger or slight acquaintance to move a child at least 20 feet or hold the child at least one hour, plus another condition such as overnight detention, travel of at least 50 miles, ransom, an intent to keep the child permanently or the child’s death.
Among those narrowly defined cases, 36% began in a place with public access, mostly outdoor locations such as playgrounds, sidewalks and parking lots. Nearly 70% began with deception or another nonthreatening pretext rather than violence at first contact.
Those findings are national, more than a decade old and limited to completed abductions that met the study’s strict criteria. They are not a Warren trend line and should not be treated as a statistical comparison to the Crescentwood case, where no child was taken and the charges have not been proven.
All parties are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.