‘It's not what you think,' mother says of Dallas alleged attempted abduction

There is a new version of events related to this week’s viral video of an attempted abduction investigation in far North Dallas.

The “suspect’s” mother is coming forward, stressing the encounter "is not what you think it is."

“I'm the mom of the individual that jumped out of the car,” said the woman who asked us not to identify her out of fear for her and her son’s safety. “I would like our side of the story to be told.”

She did not know what happened Monday afternoon until her son received a screenshot of a neighborhood text detailing a reported abduction attempt.

Police were called to Far North Dallas after a group of friends, ages 9 and 10, ran home and reported a suspicious encounter with strangers in a white SUV.

The incident then turned into what they perceived as an attempted kidnapping when a passenger in the car got out and began chasing one of the younger boys.

NBC 5 and Telemundo 39 spoke with the boy’s mother, Genna Skolnik, on Tuesday, who provided a Ring doorbell camera video recording of the incident.

Skolnik said the boys told her: “[The strangers] were calling my son, saying, 'Hey, we have a football player in the car. You should come talk to him.' My son said, 'I don’t talk to strangers!' And ran off.”

Just as Skolnik ran outside, she witnessed a man giving chase before turning back around and getting in the white car. It gave her time to snap a photograph of the vehicle’s license plate.

Dallas police were called and have been investigating a ‘reported attempted abduction’ since Monday.

Word quickly spread around the neighborhood, allowing NBC 5 to track down the suspect’s mother, who had her own story to tell. She not only disputed the interaction but explained that the man the public was stunned to see running after a child was actually a 16-year-old with high-functioning autism.

“I just want people to hear my heart and to recognize that I'm being authentic here and that my son had no ill will. He has a really good heart. He's a very kind young man, and he wished no ill will to those boys,” she said.

She said her son and a friend driving the white vehicle were meeting another friend who lives in the neighborhood that day. She said her son and his friend were in the white SUV, and their other friend was in a black pickup truck, which Dallas police also tracked down.

She said the two vehicles were parked next to each other so the teens could figure out where they were going.

“Those boys walked by and when they walked by my son said: You guys look like you'd be great at playing football. And one of the boys told him to [expletive] off, and so, [my son] decided in his mind that it would be a good idea to hop out of the car to tell the kid that you shouldn't talk to people like that,” she said. “My son is autistic, and he doesn't always understand social boundaries. So, in that moment when that boy said that someone that is autistic might not jump out of the car because they would think, wow, this might have consequences. Well, that never crossed my son's mind because he had no malicious intent.”

She further explained her son sometimes can be impulsive.

“I told him what he should have done since he already got out of the car when he saw the mom recording, which is what spooked him and caused him to get back in the car, that he should have continued forward and talked to the mom and told her why he got out of the car,” she said. “I've also told him that if it was in her situation, I would have had the same reaction because all she had was little information and she had to fill in the blanks.”

The teen’s mother said they immediately sought out police on Tuesday, hoping to clear up the misunderstanding and put everyone’s minds at ease.

Dallas police on Friday said the case is still being investigated. Detectives have spoken with all of the teens involved and said they have cooperated with the investigation and that police do not believe there is a threat to the public. Charges are still possible.

While she’s horrified by the comments some people have made, including saying they would have shot the presumable child predator, the teen’s mom said the “blessing” that came from the incident is an outpouring of support from those who know and love her son.

“His principal vouched for him with the police and said, we know you, we know you're a good kid,” she said.

She's thankful for his buddies, especially because there was a time when he didn't have any.

She hoped to have a conversation with Skolnik to clear the air.

“Just, you know, move on, and hopefully that they can feel better and safer in their own neighborhood,” she said.