Four-year-old walks home from school

HOUSTON The child had left Looscen Elementary, north of downtown, and was later spotted by neighbors near a busy street.

The mother of the boy was being sworn into a new National Guard unit when she got a phone call that still gives her chills.

This Halloween Ethan Perry and his little brother are pirates, but a scary situation after school last week left his mother in tears.

"My son just came home out of nowhere; nobody picked him up. Just the thought of something happening to him," their mother, Deanna Perry, said.

Perry is parenting alone right now while her husband serves in Afghanistan.

"My husband of course loves him to death," she said.

She was being sworn in at a National Guard event. Her mother was going to pick Ethan up from Looscan Elementary when his preschool class let out around 1pm, but she got a call from her brother that Ethan showed up alone at the house.

"I went hysterical and crazy," she said.

Somehow the four-year-old left school by himself, walked six blocks through the streets of their north side neighborhood before showing up at home. A neighbor spotted him down the street.

"He was about to cross the street over here and she kept telling him stay back, stay back, because she saw a truck coming and the truck was honking at him," Perry said.

Looscan Elementary Principal Robert Pollock issued this statement:

"Student safety is always our first priority. Unfortunately, a student new to our campus walked home today without permission. We are now in the process of reviewing our dismissal procedures to ensure the safe dismissal of all students."

"What cross my mind was pedophiles because I know there are people out there watching kids," Perry said.

It's the "what ifs" that really haunts her this Halloween and she hopes it never happens again.

"I don't know if it's happened before in the past but it shouldn't happen at all," Perry said. "These are little kids that don't know what they're doing."

The school principal also made a visit to Perry; she says that helped ease some of her concerns but her story should be a reminder to all just how quickly kids can get away from you whether a parent or a teacher.