Man sprayed substance on woman’s back in ‘indecent incident’ at Target, Texas cops say
North Richland Hills police are investigating an “indecent incident” in which a man sprayed an unidentified substance on a woman shopping at the Target store off North Tarrant Parkway and Precinct Line Road on Thursday night, according to a news release.
The victim told police that the suspect, a man with shoulder-length black hair, approached her from behind and “put an unknown substance on her back from what sounded like a spray bottle.” The incident was reported about 9 p.m., police said in news release posted to social media.
James Whitfield, the superintendent of Treetops School International in Euless, identified himself as a witness to the incident in a video he posted on Facebook Thursday night.
Whitfield was in the store when he heard the victim — who was shopping with her child — calling for help, he said in the video. He saw the suspect approaching him wearing a blue surgical mask, and confronted the suspect when the woman pointed him out.
The man denied involvement and ran out of the store when Whitfield confronted him about the “disgusting violation,” Whitfield said. The man left the store in a silver Chevy pickup truck, police said.
After Whitfield’s video of the incident gained attention on social media, North Richland Hills detectives reached out to him for his account of the incident, he said in a second video posted Friday. Whitfield lauded both the work of the detective and the 911 operator who took the phone call.
North Richland Hills police are processing evidence in the case and asking anyone with information about the incident to contact Detective West at jwest@nrhtx.com or 817-427-7035.
This story was originally published May 21, 2026 at 6:32 PM.
