TACOMA, Wash. — UPDATE: Tacoma PD shared on Monday afternoon that the suspect in this case has been identified and remains under investigation.
A split-second decision may have saved a girl from a kidnapping that happened in broad daylight in Tacoma. It happened over the weekend near the heart of downtown.
Tacoma police say the incident happened very close to the intersection of Pacific Avenue and 17th Street — technically the 1700 block of Pacific Avenue.
It is one of the busier areas of Tacoma, right near the Tacoma Art Museum, The Tacoma Convention Center, and the University of Washington’s Tacoma branch.
Jeff Rounce is a professor at UW Tacoma and was walking to class Monday morning when he heard about the incident.
“It’s alarming, (you) never want to hear that happen. I don’t see a lot of worrisome behavior around here,” said Rounce.
Angelina James, a UW Tacoma student, echoed the professor’s sentiments when she heard about the kidnapping.
“It’s kind of scary, especially because on campus, we feel so secure. It’s terrifying,” said James.
Tacoma Police said a man grabbed who they described as a juvenile female and drove off around 11 a.m. Sunday.
Nailor is also a student at UW Tacoma. While walking to class Monday morning he admitted that an incident like the one that police are describing would spark major concern on the campus and beyond.
“Yeah, that caught me off guard. I have to say it seems like something that would happen more often – too often. I’m also surprised it happened over the weekend. There is a lot of traffic and also a lot of young people,” said Nailor.
Tacoma PD provided a photo of the suspect, who police said followed and approached a girl, stalking her from his vehicle and then grabbing her and forcing her into his car.
It was a brazen thing to do in full daylight, but Nailor admits it is possible, and there are a lot of younger people in the area.
“This is a pretty busy place. We have a lot of students coming in and out of here, especially if I’m here on weekends, we’re here late, stuff’s still happening — not just school,” said Nailor.
Sunday night, almost 12 hours after the kidnapping, Tacoma PD tweeted about the crime. Police are looking for the man and the car he was in which is described as a red, four-door Toyota. He’s accused of grabbing the girl and then driving to Sixth Avenue near Junett Street, where he got out to go into a store.
That’s when the girl escaped from the car, ran away, and called 911.
The people we talked to said it’s not just college students and faculty in the area that makes the kidnapping even more of a concern.
Angelina James had not received a security alert about the incident but expected that there would be one on Monday.
“We get security emails from the school, I think it would be good for them to send something on the school’s part,” she said.
Rounce also highlighted the issue of what is beyond the college campus, which is also a concern.
“We have a high school and they use the light rail to get around to their campus, so there’s a lot of very young people so that’s concerning,” he said.