Parents warned after suspicious incident near Clyde Hill school
CLYDE HILL, Wash. -- The mother of a 12-year-old boy who attends Chinook Middle School is reporting that a man tried to lure her son outside the school just before 4 p.m. Monday.
According to the boy, a man in a beat-up white Toyota pick-up truck asked him for help finding his lost dog. At first the boy didn't say anything, so the man asked again and that's when the boy started crying and ran away.
Two minutes later when his mom arrived, her son was frantic. She called 911.
"We are absolutely concerned," said Ann Oxreider, a spokeswoman for the Bellevue School District. "Safety is our number one issue; nothing else comes before that."
The Bellevue School District immediately wrote up a letter asking parents to be on the lookout, and reminding students to always travel in groups.
"We're really pleased with the way the student handled himself," Oxreider said, "but we want parents to be on alert."
The mother told KOMO News while her son was walking alone, there were plenty of other students and parents around. It happened so quickly, nobody realized what was going on.
The boy described the man as Hispanic, with a mustache, teardrop tattoos on his face and he wore an old Mariners baseball cap.
To help reassure students, Clyde Hill Police say they placed an officer inside Chinook Middle School for the day, while Bellevue Police are looking into the incident.
A Bellevue police spokesperson told KOMO News at this point they're not investigating the case as an attempted abduction because the man didn't actually grab or ask the boy to get inside his vehicle.
More Bellevue News>>
According to the boy, a man in a beat-up white Toyota pick-up truck asked him for help finding his lost dog. At first the boy didn't say anything, so the man asked again and that's when the boy started crying and ran away.
Two minutes later when his mom arrived, her son was frantic. She called 911.
"We are absolutely concerned," said Ann Oxreider, a spokeswoman for the Bellevue School District. "Safety is our number one issue; nothing else comes before that."
The Bellevue School District immediately wrote up a letter asking parents to be on the lookout, and reminding students to always travel in groups.
"We're really pleased with the way the student handled himself," Oxreider said, "but we want parents to be on alert."
The mother told KOMO News while her son was walking alone, there were plenty of other students and parents around. It happened so quickly, nobody realized what was going on.
The boy described the man as Hispanic, with a mustache, teardrop tattoos on his face and he wore an old Mariners baseball cap.
To help reassure students, Clyde Hill Police say they placed an officer inside Chinook Middle School for the day, while Bellevue Police are looking into the incident.
A Bellevue police spokesperson told KOMO News at this point they're not investigating the case as an attempted abduction because the man didn't actually grab or ask the boy to get inside his vehicle.
More Bellevue News>>