A nightmare scenario for a mom and her two young daughters apparently unfolded just steps from their Carlington home, sparking a police hunt for a possible child predator in the neighbourhood.

Lisa Halliday was walking the two blocks to the school bus stop at the corner of Cavan St. and Lepage Ave. to pick up her two daughters, ages 6 and 7, on Monday, the first day back to school following the holiday break.

As she rounded the corner, her cellphone rang with the panicked voice of her mother-in-law on the other end.

The girls weren’t at the bus stop. The bus had arrived early and dropped the sisters off unattended.

Within seconds of the school bus pulling away, Halliday claims, a man emerged from the OC Transpo shelter on the same corner, snatched the 6-year-old girl under his arm and demanded, “Come with me.”

The older sister bravely stood up to the man, Halliday says, screaming, “Pick on someone your own size.”

Halliday said the girl bit the man’s hand, forcing him to drop the younger sister in the snow and flee.

The two sisters ran the other direction — past a block of Ottawa Community Housing rowhouses — to the safety of their grandparents’ house.

“When I got to my daughter she was as white as a ghost,” said Halliday, whose first call was to police, who on Friday issued a description of a suspect.

Her second call was to the Ottawa Student Transportation Authority.

The school bus, en route from the St. Elizabeth school both sisters attend, is scheduled to arrive at the stop at 2:57 p.m.

But in keeping with school board and OSTA recommendations, Halliday arrives 10 minutes early each day to make sure she’s there when her girls get off the bus.

OSTA general manager Vicki Kiryakou acknowledged, the bus arrived “a little earlier than usual” that day.

OSTA has since taken steps to ensure the incident isn’t repeated, informing the driver the girls are not to be let off the bus unless a parent is there waiting.

That provision is usually extended only to kindergarten students, according to board policy.

Halliday claims the bus driver’s log indicates the girls were dropped off at 2:45 p.m., a full 12 minutes prior to the scheduled dropoff, and mere minutes before Halliday arrived.

But those mere minutes proved critical.

And now, she fears a predator is still on the loose in her neighbourhood.

Police released a complete description of the suspect, a caucasian male standing 5-foot-9 with a thin build, short blond hair and a full brown beard. He had dirty teeth and a silver tooth on the bottom row. He was wearing a brown puffy jacket, brown sweat pants, black running shoes, black toque and mittens, and had distinctive words tattooed on his wrist.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Ottawa Police Service child abuse section at 613-236-1222 ext. 5944.

@OttSunHelmer