KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Another student reported feeling threatened this week on her way to school, bringing the total of stranger danger reports in the Kansas City, Missouri School District to four in one week.
On Tuesday morning an 8th grade girl said a man in a van followed her while she was walking to school at about 7:30 a.m. near 17th St. and White Ave.
The girl told police that the man drove behind her and then eventually parked his van and tried to lure her in the van.
According to her, the man said, “La chica, come here.” When he motioned her, she turned and ran home where she alerted her family.
“She was terrified,” Tommy Herrera, East High School principal, said.
This latest incident is similar to another incident in which a teenaged girl was confronted by a robber near Northeast High School. In that earlier incident, the man demanded the girl hand over her cellphone.
When the girl initially refused, the man tried to hold her against her will. Because the victim of this street robbery is a juvenile, police say they may have categorized it as an attempted abduction.
At least three of the four cases involved a man in a van. Three involved Northeast High students and the latest report came from an East High School student.
Herrera called Thursday’s latest incident alarming.
“That’s why we tell students that the possibility is there,” Herrera said. “If you see anything.suspicious, stay calm. Be smart. Do the right thing. Run to safety.”
Kansas City Public Schools Communications Director Andre Riley told FOX 4 News the district is concerned enough about what’s been reported to make parents, students and the public aware to be on the lookout anything suspicious near the school.
Related: Possible attempted abductions in KCMO School District
