A 24-year-old man who witnesses say tried to abduct a seven-year-old girl from Jeanne-Mance Park is undergoing an evaluation to assess his current state.

Jonathan Gamez-Arias was accused at the Montreal courthouse Monday of attempted kidnapping of a child. He is pleading not guilty, his lawyer Steve Hanafi confirmed.

Gamez-Arias will appear in court Tuesday after undergoing the evaluation.

Police say  the man grabbed the girl at Jeanne-Mance Park and tried to run away with her, but her family members and other people were able to quickly reach them and stop him.

Police say he “apparently grabbed this little girl and ran away, but quickly, members of the family of the victim, got to this man and assisted with the citizen arrest in the park,” said Montreal police spokesperson André Leclerc.

They believe he has a psychiatric disorder.

One witness told The Canadian Press that ex-NHLer Georges Laraque, who happened to be playing a baseball game in the park, was one of the people who helped detain the suspect.The incident occurred around 2 p.m. The girl was not injured.

Gamez-Arias, who is not known to police, was arrested and interrogated. On Monday he underwent a social/psychological evaluation, a type of pre-screening to determine if he is fit to move forward, said Hanafi.

Pina Arcamone of the Missing Children’s Network said the alleged abductor does not fit the profile of a typical predator, because usually someone will not violently snatch a child, and instead will try to lure them. The park was full of people – and predators do not typically try to abduct children in crowded places.

She said now that the weather is mild and families are spending more time in public parks, it’s important to remind child how to behave in public, and to teach them the safety rules.

The Missing Children’s Network runs workshops of what-if scenarios for parents and children, teaching kids four years old and up how to react in case of a potential abduction. The information is available on their website. Arcamone said the learning tools can be practiced with children as soon as they are verbal.

Arcamone said parents should teach their children to keep a safe distance, and be very loud and vocal if a stranger ever approaches them.

"We need to make sure that children understand that they need to do anything they can to draw attention: you kick, you bite, you scream," she said.