WASHINGTON — Takoma Park police sought the public’s assistance in an attempted kidnapping that they say happened Tuesday. But now they say, the attempted abduction did not happen.
Police spokesman Catherine Plevy said in a statement that no kidnapping attempt occurred. Plevy said that the community meeting scheduled for Monday, Jan. 8, will be a “teachable moment for the entire community” to discuss strategies to keep children safe.
As for the police response, any time a child reports an incident of this nature, Plevy said police “treat everything as if it’s … we’re going to do our best to find that person until we hear otherwise.”
According to earlier statements, two men in a minivan approached an 8-year-old girl, who was standing outside her home near the intersection of Elm and Pine avenues, waiting for her father to give her a ride to school.
The passenger of the van asked the girl to “Come to my house, I have candy.” The girl pushed against the van door and ran back inside her house, police said.
The report of the attempted abduction prompted police to send community advisories, looking for the van passenger — described as having light brown skin with hazel eyes, had a hoop nose ring, a pink pimple near his left eye and a flower tattoo on his left hand, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt with a white stripe and light faded black sweatpants with holes in them — and for the driver of the van, described only as a man.
Along with strategies to keep children safe, Takoma Park police chief Antonio DeVaul, members of the department and staff from Defend Yourself will be present at the community meeting that will be held at the City Building at 7500 Maple Ave. at 7 p.m.
