What is Dads Against Predators? What to know about group tied to alleged attack at NC Target

An incident that police say led to a gun being fired in a North Carolina Target store has raised questions about the group “Dads Against Predators,” its history and its presence in the state.

Three men with ties to the organization lured a 25-year-old man to a Winston-Salem Target in late June and attacked him, according to police, leading the man to fire a gun in the store. It’s not the first time the group, also known as “D.A.P.,” has had run-ins with the law.

Here’s what to know about the Dads Against Predators organization and its history:

What is Dads Against Predators?

Dads Against Predators is an online-based group that aims to catch “predaphiles” — a phrase combining “predator” and “pedophile” — according to the organization’s website, whoisdap.com.

Members of the group pose as kids online and talk to adults, then film “catch” videos when they meet up with the adult they’ve been talking to in public and post them online.

“Dads Against Predators started in 2020,” the group’s website says. “We wanted to do something bigger than us. We wanted to do something that mattered and would make an impact.”

“The D.A.P. Community” Facebook group has more than 24,000 members and features multiple “catch” videos.

What happened with Dads Against Predators in North Carolina?

Winston-Salem Police said in a statement on the Target situation, which occurred June 28, that three people connected to D.A.P. “‘lured’ the victim to the Target,” McClatchy News previously reported, using the Meetup app, which is designed to help people meet each other.

“Once the victim arrived inside the Target the three males approached the victim and confronted him as to why he was at the Target,” police said. “At least one of the males was recording this interaction with their cellular phone when the victim slapped the phone from one of the males which resulted in a physical altercation.”

The man who had been lured fired a gun to try to stop the attack, according to police.

In an Instagram post shared later that week, D.A.P. “co-creator” Joshua Mundy said he had been involved “in a very dangerous situation” on June 28.

“Speaking for myself, I am heavily considering retiring and removing myself from the field,” he wrote. “I would never remove myself from the mission or cause.”

Where did Dads Against Predators start?

The earliest news reports about Dads Against Predators drawing attention in late 2020 were in Ohio. Many of the “catch” videos posted to the group’s social media pages, the posts say, were filmed in Fremont, Ohio, part of the Toledo, Ohio, metro area.

Two of the three men allegedly involved in the Winston-Salem incident were from Ohio, while the third was a North Carolina resident, according to police.

Other incidents involving Dads Against Predators

The incident at the Winston-Salem Target is not the first time D.A.P. has drawn the attention of law enforcement, according to multiple news reports.

An October 2020 statement from law enforcement officials in Sandusky County, Ohio on D.A.P.’s actions, claimed the group had left “law enforcement unable to criminally charge these individuals and prosecutors unable to prosecute” after “catches” and has “resulted in the loss of life,” the Toledo Blade reported at the time.

Prosecutors in the Cleveland, Ohio, area expressed similar concerns in April.

“It’s frustrating to see, you know, our efforts overshadowed by people who have no training, have no experience, are not even law enforcement officers, who believe that they’re protecting children,” Dave Frattare, the commander of Cuyahoga County, Ohio’s Internet Crimes Against Children task force told Cleveland’s WOIO.