THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 15, 1997 TAG: 9702150388
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CINDY CLAYTON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 43 lines
A 15-year-old Salem High School student who was walking to school Thursday morning was robbed and abducted at gunpoint and later managed to escape unharmed, police said.
The 10th-grader was walking in the 4600 block of Ardmore Lane near the intersection of Fall Meadow Court about 7 a.m. when a man driving a light blue Geo Metro stopped him to ask directions, said Mike Carey, a police spokesman.
The man pulled out a handgun and demanded the teen's money and bookbag. He forced the boy into the car and drove him to a convenience store in the Pembroke area.
The man threatened to shoot the student if he tried to escape. He then left the teen in the car while he went into the store, but the teen escaped and called police and his parents.
``It's the first time that we have had a case of this nature,'' Carey said.
A school spokesman said Salem officials had not spoken with police and were not made aware of the incident until Friday afternoon. A call to the principal's office was not returned Friday.
``I talked with the principal and no one there was aware of it,'' said Joe Lowenthal, school spokesman. Lowenthal said that in his 19 years with the school system, he couldn't remember a similar incident.
``It gets back to the old adage of `Don't talk to strangers,' but he (the teen) didn't do anything wrong,'' Carey said.
The suspect is described as a white male, 28 or 29, about 6 feet tall and very thin. He has blue eyes and short black hair in a bowl cut. He was last seen wearing a green short sleeve T-shirt, dark denim jeans and no shoes.
The Geo is described as a 1990s model with a gray interior and a black stripe down the side. The car may have white license plates with dark numbers or letters.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Solvers at 427-0000. ILLUSTRATION: The abductor, a young white
man about 6 feet tall and
very thin, was last seen in a
light-blue Geo Metro.
KEYWORDS: ABDUCTION ROBBERY HANDGUN