The RCMP is investigating a case of vigilante justice after a group of parents went after a man they say was aiming a camera up a child's skirt.
Cellphone video captured in Coquitlam, B.C. shows the moments immediately after a dramatic showdown between parents and a stranger.
Footage shows a man being handcuffed after being accused of covertly filming a seven-year-old, and others.
"He had not just footage of my daughter but also other children, and only children," the mother told CTV News Wednesday, adding that she'd confiscated his phone.
"The phone that he had had nothing on it. No apps, no email. That phone was specifically for recording."
CTV News is not identifying the mother to protect her daughter's identity.
The confrontation occurred inside a department store. The child's mother said her daughter was trying on rollerblades when she noticed a cellphone that appeared to be strategically placed and recording.
"He had knelt down and gotten this low angle shot as she tied her shoes. It's videos of her panties. At one point she even looks at the camera," the mom alleges.
The mother posted about the alleged incident on social media, sharing the man's face and further details about what she says happened. It's since been widely circulated and shared thousands of times.
The mother says she played the video for everyone and that "there was no second guessing what he had done."
Mounties said the 69-year-old Surrey man is now under investigation, but has been released without charges.
"We completely understand how emotional people get with files concerning children, we're people too," Coquitlam RCMP Cpl. Michael McLaughlin said of the posts online.
"But it's really important with files like this that we stay impartial."
With a report from CTV Vancouver's Sarah MacDonald
