SHAWNEE, Kan. — A metro mom says someone tried to kidnap her 9-week-old baby as she shopped in a Shawnee Target.

Rachel Youngs said the woman initially seemed very friendly — saying how cute her baby is. Youngs said it wasn’t until the woman tried to walk off with her child that she started to panic.

“I made a comment on how cute her dog was, and she went around to the front of my car and made a comment about how cute my baby is,” Youngs said.

The mom stopped at Target on Shawnee Mission Parkway to get groceries Friday morning. She said she was in the baby section when a woman with a dog walked up to her.

“She made a comment saying, ‘yeah, I`ll trade you my dog for your baby,’ and I thought she was just joking,” Youngs said.

Youngs says during the conversation, the woman told her she babysits all the time, and has a dog grooming business.

“Just was super, super nice… and she went to the front of my cart and asked me if she could hold my daughter,” said Youngs, “And she starts taking her out of the car seat, and she hands me her dog.”

Youngs says she agreed to let the stranger hold her baby, but immediately regretted it.

“As she`s holding my baby she started saying weird things, she starts asking me, `do you have a godmother?’ I said no, and she said, ‘I`d love to be your godmother, I`ll split everything 50/50.’ And I was like this is kind of weird, like, who says this to a random person?” Youngs said.

Youngs says the conversation became even more alarming.

“And she says, just so you know, I was arrested for attempted kidnapping,” said Youngs, “That`s when I was like, okay you know what, there`s something wrong…All of a sudden, this woman starts walking off with my daughter, and I yelled to her, I said, I need my baby back!”

She says the lady hesitated for a second, then handed over baby Waverly.

Youngs asked employees to call police. Officers arrived but told Youngs their hands were tied.

“They just said, ‘well, there`s nothing we can really do because you technically gave her permission to hold your baby,’ and my exact words were, ‘okay, so me giving her permission to hold my baby for a couple minutes gives her permission to take off with my child?’” Youngs recalled.

According to Shawnee police — they know who the woman in question is and are still investigating.

Youngs says she’ll think twice the next time a stranger walks up to her.

“Someone could come up to you and just be as nice as possible, and I try to trust people, and so many people do, but you can`t trust anyone,” Youngs said.

Youngs says she wants to warn others, because she`s concerned the woman will try to take someone else`s baby.