BOSTON — A 33-year-old Boston man is being held without bail after an incident on the Green Line on Tuesday. Court documents state Liban Dualle tried to kidnap a three-year-old boy and threatened his mother.
“It is disturbing that it happened in the first place and that it escalated that much,” Dana Donovan, a woman who travels on the MBTA daily, said.
According to court documents, a woman told MBTA Transit Police she boarded an empty trolley heading westbound on the Green Line from North Station around 12:30 Tuesday afternoon. She told police Dualle also boarded the trolley, sitting one seat away from her and her three-year-old son.
Court documents state the woman told police he then attempted to flirt with her. When she ignored him, she told police Dualle became more aggressive in his advances.
The woman told police “he kept asking for my number, telling me we should get out of here, and you’re so beautiful.” She said he then started to make comments about her son.
Another woman nearby noticed she was uncomfortable and intervened, trying to distract her with conversation in an attempt to get Dualle to leave.
Documents showed the suspect then attempted to tickle the three-year-old and touch his feet. When the boy’s mother told Dualle to stop, he made a finger gun with his hand, pointed it at her, and said, “I’ll --- kill you. You understand me? I’ll shoot you.”
Prosecutors said he then attempted to grab the child by his leg and remove him from his stroller. Then an MBTA employee intervened, pushing Dualle away and forcing him off the trolley at the next stop.
“I’m really glad that people stepped in and you know took a second to look around at what was going on and knew to step in,” Donovan said.
“Kudos to those who took a step to intervene and to try to mitigate the situation,” Todd McGhee, a security analyst, said.
McGhee said in those types of situations, it’s important to always do a threat assessment before taking action.
“There are times when you need to just create distance immediately and not get into some type of a debate, not get into some type of dialogue or back and forth that you’re not interested but 100% physically remove yourself away from the person and create that distance,” McGhee said.
If someone makes a threat, McGhee said it’s most likely a bluff.
“Dangerous people don’t bluff, they typically follow through with what their threat is or they just commit the crime,” McGhee said.
But McGhee added it’s important to stay vigilant.
“I definitely will be more vigilant about what’s going on around me if you know I ever need to step in and you know hopefully other people would do the same thing for me if that ever happened,” Donovan said.
Dualle faces a number of charges and is being held in jail until a dangerousness hearing scheduled for May 26.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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