A Winnipeg mother is shaken after an unknown man tried to pick her five-year-old son up from his kindergarten class.

"I'm terrified. I have so many emotions going through my mind," said Melissa, who has kept her son, Hunter, home from Faraday School since the incident last Thursday.

CBC News is not using her last name to protect her child's identity.

"I don't feel like my boy is safe at school right now."

Just as disturbing is that the stranger seems to know the family. He asked for Hunter by name and scurried away when he saw the boy's father show up, according to Melissa. She said the man was caught on the school's video surveillance system.

"Had we been a few more minutes late, [Hunter] would have been gone," Melissa said.

'What would have happened with my boy?'

She said the video is too grainy to get a clear view of the suspect's face, but the family doesn't recognize the man.

"If dad wasn't there, what would have happened with my boy? He would have been put it in someone else's hands who I possibly don't even know and probably never even see him again."

Winnipeg Police say they're looking into the incident, but couldn't provide much information about the case.

"There was a report of a suspicious male who attempted to pick up a student at the school. We had our school resource officer speak with the complainant," an emailed statement from the police service said.

"We continue to investigate."

A Winnipeg mother is shaken after a man tried to abduct her five-year-old son from his kindergarten class. 1:36

Melissa said police also have a copy of the surveillance video, which shows the man walk up to the school, at the corner of Mountain Avenue and Parr Street, pulling a child's sled. He then goes in and down to Hunter's classroom, she said.

"He knew where his classroom was and had asked specifically for Hunter," Melissa said, noting Hunter is the only child with that name, out of the 50 kids in the morning and afternoon kindergarten classes.

"What I was told is that he walked to the classroom door and he said 'I'm here for Hunter.' The teacher had thought this guy had looked like [Hunter's] uncle, which he wasn't," Melissa said.

Faraday School is not commenting since the incident is being investigated by police. (Marouane Refak (CBC/Radio Canada))

As the teacher goes to get Hunter, the man is seen on the video waiting in the hallway "looking back and forth, pacing back and forth," Melissa said.

When the teacher looked back, Hunter's dad was there and the other man was gone.

"[The teacher] said, 'Oh, his uncle was just here to pick him up,' and she looks out in the hallway and he's nowhere to be found," Melissa said.

Uncle, cousin hadn't been there

Video surveillance shows the man leaving the school with the empty sled just moments after Hunter's dad, Simon, walks in.

"You can see in the video when Simon comes into the school, this guy looks at him and he takes off," Melissa said.

Immediately after getting to the car with Hunter, Simon asked Melissa why the uncle went there. Just as confused, Melissa called the uncle as well as a cousin — two people who have taken Hunter to school or picked him up in the past.

Neither one said they had been there.

Melissa said the school staff, particularly the kindergarten teacher, has been extremely apologetic.

"I know the teacher feels really terrible about what happened, you can see it in her face," she said.

Neither the school or the division would comment on the incident because it is being investigated by police.

"This is something that's really scary and I don't know if my son's the only target out there. But this guy definitely knew my son, he knew his classroom and he knew his school. So he knew his routine," Melissa said.