CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It was a trip to Walmart one Georgia mom will never forget.
"He tried to open the bathroom door," Tomi Cooper said. "The man grabbed him by the arm, but my son was able to fight him and shake him off and he ran out the door."
Police say the man told Cooper's son his mom and brother left the store and they asked him to take the boy home. Cooper called 911, and within minutes police had arrested 51-year-old Michael Beltran.
"Didn't surprise me," said Karen Fischer, a safety expert. "That's a tactic that the really bad guys use."
Fischer runs Rad Kids of Lake Norman. Their camps include role-playing to help distinguish a good stranger from a bad one.
NBC Charlotte's Xavier Walton asked Fischer what parents can do to prepare kids for a situation like that.
"The first thing you should do is them that they have your permission," Fischer said. "They have your permission to do whatever it takes to keep themselves safe."
Fischer said the first thing your child should do is take three giant steps back.
"It's a battle stance, and tell them very loudly stay back," Fischer said.
"In this case, the man grabs the child's arm...then what?" Walton asked.
"Then you start hitting," said Fischer. "Then you start doing whatever it takes."
In the event that someone who doesn't know your child, but does have the permission to take your child, experts say your child can ask for a password.
"If something happens to me as your parent and I need someone else to come get you and you may or may not know that person," Fischer said. "In order for you to go with them they must have our family password and if they don't have that family password you need to get safe now."