VILLA PARK : Residents Warned of Kidnaping Attempts

Students and parents here are being warned to take precautions on their way to school after two teen-age girls were approached in separate incidents last week by a gun-wielding, would-be kidnaper, police and school officials said Tuesday.

One of the students, from Cerro Villa Middle School, was shot at after refusing to go with a man who approached her at 7:40 a.m. last Tuesday on Collins Avenue near the Santiago Creek, police said.

The 13-year-old girl, who was on her way to school, escaped unharmed and did not report the incident until Friday when a 14-year-old friend, also a Cerro Villa Middle School student, was approached, apparently by the same suspect, as she walked to school in the morning, said Orange Police Lt. Timm Browne.

In the first incident, the suspect grabbed the teen-ager’s shirt for a brief moment before she ran away and was shot at. The second incident occurred on Taft Avenue near the Costa Mesa Freeway in Orange and both incidents happened within two miles of the school the victims attend, Cerro Villa Principal Skip Roland said.

Both girls said the suspect asked them to go with him, brandished a gun and followed them when they ran. The 14-year-old girl said she saw the man get into a medium-sized black car and leave but she didn’t see the driver, he said.

The girls, both of Orange, described the suspect as a 6-foot-tall black male with shoulder-length black braided hair and a mustache, he added.

Browne said detectives are investigating the incidents and have no leads.

“We have gone into an alert mode, supervising the perimeter of the campus,” Roland said. “We sent letters home with the students Friday, telling them to be careful and encouraging them to walk in groups.”

Villa Park High and Villa Park Elementary schools also sent letters home with students on Monday while students at Serrano Elementary School received letters Tuesday. All the schools are in the Orange Unified School District.

Police are recommending that school children be extra cautious on their way to and from school, walk in groups and don’t allow strangers to come up close.