Phoenix school warns parents after 3 men try to lure girls within 3 weeks
Apr 17, 2019, 4:35 AM | Updated: 3:24 pm
(Google Maps Screenshot)
(Google Maps Screenshot)
PHOENIX — Officials from a Phoenix school district are warning parents about multiple strangers who have attempted to lure children from the same school in the past three weeks.
“We have had three separate incidents over the last three weeks of male individuals trying to lure neighborhood girls into either their vehicles, or another instance, at a particular home,” Linda Jeffries, communications manager for the Alhambra Elementary School District, told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, a man reportedly attempted to lure a girl into his car as she walked to Westwood Elementary School.
The day before, a man reportedly knocked on a family’s door and told them he was a teacher there to take their daughter to school.
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And on March 26, a man reportedly attempted to lure a Westwood student into his vehicle as the child walked home from school.
Jeffires said the incidents are not related but have all occurred in the same community near Interstate 17 and Camelback Road.
“It’s most alarming because … they’re preying on young victims. Most of these students were young girls under the age of 13,” Jeffries said.
“And so what we are especially grateful (for) is that every student and family did what was right, and they ignored the individuals who were trying to lure them. They immediately told an adult.”
The three suspects in these incidents have been described as:
- April 16: Asian male in his early 30s, driving a white truck with the word “Royal” on the back
- April 15: tall, chubby, brown-skinned Hispanic male with a beard and glasses, speaking Spanish
- March 26: male with brown skin, black or brown hair, wearing black gloves with red palms and driving a 2-door tan car with a black grill
Jeffries said parents should remind their children to be aware of their surroundings, report suspicious activity, ignore strangers and walk in pairs or groups.
She also said the school district would never send a teacher to a family’s door to take their child to school, and parents should never let a stranger into their home.
Last week, a man reportedly attempted to kidnap an 11-year-old girl as she walked to Village Meadows Elementary School near Union Hills Drive and 19th Avenue.
The suspect was described as a man with dark skin, green eyes and a nose ring in his left nostril.
KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Ashley Flood contributed to this report.
