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Schools on alert after abduction attempt
Hillsborough County schools went on modified lockdown this morning after a man tried to abduct a fourth-grade girl from Mendenhall Elementary School.
By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK
Published March 17, 2005
Tampa police are looking for the man who let go of the girl and ran away when a car passed by. The white male, wearing a black jacket, was seen running down Mendenhall Avenue toward Hillsborough Avenue.
School district spokesman Mark Hart said the incident occurred just before 10 a.m., when the fourth-grader was walking to the school media center with a fifth-grade girl. Students always travel in pairs on campus for safety reasons, Hart said.
As the girls passed by one of the locked and gated entrances to the campus, which is surrounded by a chain-link fence, a man approached and began talking to them. Then he pushed open the gate and grabbed the fourth-grader.
"For whatever reason, it did not clasp and lock completely" after school began, Hart said.
The fifth-grade girl grabbed her buddy's arm and pulled her back toward the school. A car passed by at the same time. The man, whom neither girl knew, ran off.
The school is just south of Hillsborough between Rome and Armenia avenues.
Until further notice, the district directed that no elementary school children go outside without an adult escort. Middle and high schools were told that students may not go outside without at least one other person.
Principals also were told to report all suspicious activity to law enforcement.
[Last modified March 17, 2005, 12:23:52]
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