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Winston-Salem police said a group "lured" an alleged predator into a Target and took action into their own hands. Police urge people not to do this.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. Winston-Salem Police said three men with Dads Against Predators "lured" a 25-year-old man to the Target on Hanes Mall Boulevard last Tuesday.

Dads Against Predators is a group, who's mission is to confront predators who try to meet with children, and post it on social media to bring light to the issue.

The group talked to the man through the social media app Meetup and police said the group confronted him at Target, wanting to know why he was there, and that's when a fight broke out and the man who was "lured" took out a handgun and hit a group member in the leg.

It has experts urging caution about taking matters into your own hands because there's a lot at stake and confronting someone who may have committed a crime can become violent quickly, ruin an ongoing investigation and could hurt innocent bystanders.

Both Greensboro attorney Jason Keith and retired Greensboro police officer Marc Ridgill are not directly involved in the case, but said the risks outweigh the benefits of being a hero.

Ridgill said only police can take immediate action.

"Someone that's not a law enforcement officer, with the authority to arrest someone, has no authority to get them off the street, you have to go through the police department to do that," said Ridgill.

Ridgill said police also know how to properly handle evidence to take it to court.

"Folks that take matters into their own hands can be a problem because even though they mean well, they're not trained in Fourth Amendment and Fifth Amendment constitutional law, they're not trained in Criminal Procedure, they're not trained in in how to handle evidence and any mistake in any of those can either cause reasonable doubt for a jury or cause a procedural problem that a judge will be forced to, by law, throw the case out," said Ridgill. "Providing information is one thing, taking matters into your own hands is completely another."

He said most likely you can cause more problems than actually helping and can ruin an investigation, keeping the person who might have committed a crime out on the streets.

"You can only be tried once because of double jeopardy, so, if you're lucky, they'll declare a mistrial and you can try them again, but if you're unlucky, and that mistake really messes up the case and they're found not guilty or the case is thrown out because of it, then you may be causing more problems than your than you're helping," said Ridgill.

Attorney Jason Keith said it can also put you into legal trouble.

"The concern in this case is where you bring a very highly confrontational situation, such as this one, where this individual is being invited, he's considered a predator and he's being confronted by a person that's not law enforcement trained, there's a high probability that something might go negative the way it went in Winston-Salem at the Target," said Keith.

According to Winston-Salem Police, the group assaulted the man they were confronting.

Keith said while their intention was likely to just expose a predator, getting physical means assault charges could come.

He said there is also concern over leaving the scene before police arrived.

"If a crime has been committed, such as in this case, there was a shooting inside of the target location, the officers do have permission where they can go back and charge the person for not complying or for hindering an investigation, such as obstruct, resist to delay a police officer investigation that they're conducting," said Keith.

Keith said Target has enough probable cause to press trespassing charges against the suspect since the situation put shoppers in harms way and the store had no time to prepare for the incident.

"There are ultimately concerns at any point in time from any commercial establishment, because persons convened here for purposes other than shopping," said Keith.

The best advice from both Keith and Ridgill is to let police handle it.

"contact somebody locally, let them get involved, let them handle it and that is a being a true hero, in the sense of this type of case regarding predators," said Keith. "If you have any information that's forth coming, call the police and let them do it and maybe it might stand up in court and maybe it might have an attempt to help some people instead of put them in harm's way."

"The best thing you can do is continue to plan the information and support law enforcement as much as you can," said Ridgill. "We would like to end sexual predators online, but we're not going to be able to address them if people are taking matters into their own hands and thinking they can just turn over something."

It's unclear if Target has interest in pursuing charges.

Winston-Salem Police said they are not currently looking for the three men involved, currently there are no charges filed against anyone in this case, and police did not say if there will be.

Police did say the Winston-Salem Gun Crime Reduction Unit is still investigating.

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Experts warn against vigilante justice groups conducting their own investigations - WFMYNews2.com