San Diego Woman Goes to Nordstrom for a Squishy Hunt. Then She Had To Be Escorted to Her Car: ‘ It Was Really Scary’
Shopping at the mall is usually pretty uneventful. You go in, look for what you want, and leave. But sometimes, a normal trip can take an unexpected turn.
It can also be hard to know when someone’s behavior is worth worrying about. Seeing the same person around a store may not mean anything at first, but that can change quickly when they seem to be keeping track of where you go.
That’s what TikTok creator Leah (@leahgwenn) claims happened during a trip to Fashion Valley Mall in San Diego. She was looking for squishies with a companion when they allegedly noticed a man following them. By the time they left, mall security was escorting them to their car.
Things Got Weird at Nordstrom
“This is a PSA to every girl who lives in San Diego,” Leah begins her video. She explains that they first stopped at Geppetto’s to get squishies. When they couldn’t find any, the pair left the store and headed into Nordstrom.
That’s when Leah claims they realized a man had been following them. She noticed that he had AirPods in and thought he was speaking to someone through them. She also believed he was either filming the women or talking to someone over FaceTime, though she couldn’t tell which.
Things became more concerning when Leah saw the man walk up to another man in the store. She took that interaction to mean there could be more than one person involved. According to Leah, the first man then “started chasing us around really fast.”
“And it was really scary,” she recalls. The women went to Nordstrom employees for help, and Leah says the workers handled the situation well. Mall security eventually escorted them to their car so they wouldn’t have to leave on their own.
Concerns about being followed while shopping can be difficult to make sense of in the moment, especially when the person being followed may not notice it right away. In Leah’s case, there is no confirmed explanation for what allegedly happened at Fashion Valley. She told viewers to stay aware of their surroundings and noted that she had seen several women shopping alone at the mall. “So be careful, guys,” Leah adds.
But Leah Had a Different Concern
At the end of the video, Leah wondered whether the encounter could have been connected to sex trafficking. She specifically questioned whether the man wearing AirPods and apparently communicating with someone else meant anything.
“From what it sounds like, it sounds like it’s like sex trafficking,” Leah says. However, there is no evidence confirming that the men were involved in trafficking or establishing why they were allegedly following the women.
Several commenters nevertheless shared Leah’s concern. “My sociology professor told our class that fashion valley is a trafficking hot spot,” one person claimed. Another wrote, “Always remember we live in a border town huge in trafficking.”
One viewer claimed the behavior was common at the mall. “i work there and i can confirm this happens all the time!” they wrote. Another person went further, claiming San Diego is among the “top 13 cities in the US for human trafficking.” These claims from commenters have not been independently verified.
Others focused on how the experience made them feel about shopping alone. “We can’t even go shopping…men are scary,” one person wrote.
While Leah suspected trafficking, there is no evidence confirming that the men were involved in trafficking or establishing why they were allegedly following the women. Her experience ultimately came with a simple warning for other shoppers: stay aware of your surroundings when something doesn’t feel right.
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