A New Jersey woman said in a TikTok video that a stranger left her shaken while she shopped with her family at a Walmart in Ledgewood. Renata Thornburg, who posts as @renatathornburg, described the man walking beside them, looking at her toddler, and smiling in a way she called creepy. In the caption on the video, Thornburg wrote that the man was “so so creepy” and that she would not go back to that Walmart. She added, “This dude would have been tackled for sure.”
The video has gained 440,600 views and more than 1,570 comments. Thornburg said she had her baby in a stroller and her husband had their 2-year-old in a shopping cart. She stated the man was on the phone through a Bluetooth headset and kept looking at the child.
On-screen text in the video read, “This was so strange and creeped me put so bad. This dude almost went down. He knew I knew right away……” Thornburg said in the clip that the encounter was “the weirdest s–t” and that the man was “so f–king weird, like a creep, just smiling.”
Shopper says stranger’s smile changed after she made eye contact in another aisle
Thornburg said her husband did not notice what was happening, so she moved to the side of her family. She stated she was so aggravated she could barely talk. The family then went into another aisle, she said, and the man “f–king creep[ed] up next to her again.”
@renatathornburg This was the weirdest thing this dude was so so creepy. I will not be going to that Walmart again. What is going on????!!!! This dude would have been tackled for sure. #creeps #creepystorytime #crepystory #walmart #walmart @Walmart creepy af!!! Never going in there again.
♬ original sound – RENATA🌙THORNBURG
She said she made eye contact with him so he would know she had seen him looking. Thornburg stated he was “smiling like a f–king creep, looking, side-eyeing her.” She added that she started talking louder and that “his face totally changed” when he looked at her.
Thornburg said they were heading to check out and that she was thankful her husband was with her. She stated she would have been “so scared” if she had been alone. “Honestly, it was disgusting,” she said. “He was just like looking at my toddler like- I- it wasn’t like a friendly smile, it was like creepy as f–k.”
Viewers shared similar accounts and advice in the comments. One person urged others not to stay quiet and wrote, “GET LOUD. Stop being polite and directly confront them.” Another commenter said they had faced the same situation at Walmart with a 7-year-old granddaughter.
They wrote, “I confronted him and said you better get your eyes off her. I let him know he picked the wrong g-ma. I made it known, I carry!” Such confrontations are not uncommon, as a Florida woman recently alleged an old man looked her up and down at a local Walmart before two men started following her.
A third person told parents to make a scene if needed. They wrote, “Yell. I’m not kidding. Make a scene and cuss him out. If you make it known that you’re gonna be a big d–n deal, they move on. The fight is us against people who want our children. Stay safe.” Such unsettling encounters with strangers can happen anywhere, as when a Utah woman was creeped out after discovering her car had been tampered with, and two men followed her to Costco.
Others focused on staying alert in stores. One commenter wrote, “with my kids in public…I’m always watching whose watching them.” Another said, “Thank God you’re alert and noticed. This world is disgusting A moms intuition is everything!” A further commenter advised documenting the person. They wrote, “Whenever stuff like this happens, take their picture. Make it obvious. Make eye contact with them as you do it.”
