by SEAN KIMMONS
Two men tried to lure a 10-year-old girl into their truck as she played in her yard in the Plum Creek subdivision on Dec. 4, police say, the fourth reported possible attempted abduction in little more than a month.
Police advise parents to educate their children not to approach any vehicle when they don’t fully recognize the people inside the vehicle.
On Dec. 4 at about 2 p.m., the girl was playing outside a home in the 1200 block of Fairway when a late model burgundy-colored Ford extended cab pickup stopped beside her, Kyle Police Sgt. Tracy Vrana said. Two unidentified men in the truck then tried to persuade the girl into the truck with a beach ball, Vrana said.
The girl yelled for her dad, who came running outside and saw the truck driving south on Fairway, Vrana said.
“We typically don’t see this here yet. But as we continue to grow as a city, so will the crime rate,” Vrana said.
Three similar incidents were reported in November.
An unidentified man drove a black sedan up to two young girls around 1 p.m. on Nov. 21 outside a home in the 100 block of Antelope Hills, located near Science Hall Elementary School. He asked the girls, aged five and six, to get into his car, police said.
A neighbor witnessed the encounter and yelled at the male driver, who then sped off, the spokesperson said.
On Nov. 6, two other attempted abductions of two children were reported only a few hours apart, police report.
Around 1 p.m., a nine-year-old girl was approached by three Hispanic males in a green Chevy pickup as she walked home from Fuentes Elementary School on Bailey Loop, police said.
The men asked the girl to get in the truck but she refused. The driver then shifted the truck into reverse and followed the girl as she ran away, the spokesperson said.
After she arrived home, the girl told her parents about the incident and her parents notified the school district. Hays CISD officials then sent a letter encouraging parents to stay vigilant and advise their children to report suspicious activity to them or teachers.
Less than two hours later – about a mile away – two men reportedly knocked on the door of a home on the 400 block of Whispering Hollow and attempted to lure a nine-year-old boy to their truck, authorities say.
After asking the boy for his name, they told him they were selling something and attempted to convince him to get into their vehicle which was reported to be a small gray pickup, the spokesperson said, adding that the police report didn’t say what the men were allegedly selling. The report didn’t provide a physical description of the two men. A parent was reportedly inside the home with another child at the time.
All incidents are being investigated separately and it’s still unknown if they are related since each report had differing vehicle descriptions, police say.
Each incident occurred in the afternoon in a different Kyle subdivision. Three of the four incidents happened less than a half mile from IH-35 access.
