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Mom confronts stranger asking to see her daughter

MONROE, Wash. — A Monroe mom confronted a stranger who came to her family's home asking for her daughter by name.

The incident was captured on the family's Ring doorbell last Thursday.

In the video, a man and a younger woman walk up to the family's home. The man introduces himself and the woman to the homeowner, who speaks through the Ring doorbell. He says they are looking for the family's 15-year-old daughter and ask for her by name.

The father of the girl asks why they are looking for her.

"Oh, we're just here to share some wonderful thoughts with her from the Bible and share our latest magazine with her," the man says.

The homeowner asks the man and the woman to leave. Concerned about the bizarre door knock, the child's mother went to a nearby Kingdom Hall and people identified the man who approached her home as a member of the church.

Susan Johnson confronted the man at the church with her cellphone camera recording. She says he slapped her face in an attempt to knock her phone out of her hand.

"You touch me again and I'll call the police. Where did you get my daughter's name and address?" she says in the video.

During the interaction that lasts several minutes, the man does not answer Johnson's question.

"My concern was that he didn't identify where he was from," Johnson says, "It scares me for my daughter. She's scared and she doesn't know how he got her name and address."

KIRO 7 took the videos to officials with Jehovah's Witnesses in Washington. Spokesman Erik Larson confirmed that the man in the video is a member of a church. However, he does think the man should have explained what he was doing.

"To have a stranger at his door asking for his daughter by name without readily identifying himself? I would be concerned as well," Larson said.

Larson says church leaders have spoken to the man since the videos surfaced.

"It's never our intention when carrying out our ministry to be intrusive," he explained.

Monroe police say they are aware of the incident and are investigating.

KIRO 7 asked several of Johnson's neighbors if members of the Jehovah's Witness church have approached them. All of them said they had no interactions with church members.

Larson says Jehovah's Witnesses often participate in door-to-door ministry, but that typically, members identify who they are and why they are at a home.