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Mother: Neighbor profiled, threatened my son

Dawn Barnum says out of fear for her son's safety she can no longer allow him to jog around his own neighborhood. She says he'll have to train for track somewhere else.
Picture of Jordan Barnum during a track meet for Armwood High School.

Riverview, Florida -- Imagine you're out running to stay in shape when all of a sudden you're stopped by sheriff's deputies and asked to identify yourself. That's what a Riverview couple says happened to their son who is a track star at Armwood High School. He was was out training for the upcoming season with one of his buddies.

10 News is digging deeper trying to get answers after the parents say it's not what the sheriff's office did, but what their homeowners association did that has them calling this a case of racial profiling.

For Dawn Barnum, nothing is more important than faith and family. Her 17-year-old son Jordan is a record holder in track. Her husband is a Reverend. But she says their world was rocked last Sunday when their son and one of his buddies were stopped by two sheriff's deputies while going for a run just a few miles away from the Pavilion subdivision they both live in.

"No guns were drawn, but they pulled into the parking lot very abruptly and it kind of startled him as well as his friend," Barnum says.

The teens provided identification and because they're minors Barnum was called and told that a neighbor called deputies out of concern that three African American males had been casing the neighborhood and peering into people's windows, and that they'd even jumped his fence.

The deputy, however, explained that Jordan and his friend were not the ones involved.

"He also explained that they weren't in any trouble," she says.

Barnum thought it was over until, moments later, the president of the Homeowners Association and the vice president, who also serves as a neighborhood watch patrolman, showed up on their porch.

"She explained that they were doing this for the safety of the kids, because a couple of the kids were complaining of seeing them walking around the neighborhood and that some of the residents were armed. That startled me a little bit," she says.

We tracked down the president of the HOA, Judith Bagshaw, who says it's not something they normally do - but mother to mother she wanted to warn the Barnum family.

"It did get out of hand because the homeowner said, if you ever do this again I will shoot you," Bagshaw says.

We asked Bagshaw if they ever spoke to the neighbor who made the threat and she said, "No ma'am, that's not a part of what I do."

Meanwhile, Barnum says out of fear for her son's safety she's no longer allowing him to jog around his own neighborhood. She says he'll have to train somewhere else. "He will have to drive to the nearest park or recreation center in order to do drills and conditioning for track season from this point forward."

She adds, "I really, really don't like the fact that people can single us out just based on our brown skin."

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