7 years ago
JACKSONVILLE, FL (Westside) -- Parents in one neighborhood on the First Coast are walking their children to the bus stop after a 16-year-old girl says she saw a masked man with a gun.
It happened near the intersection of Shearer Avenue and Nolan Street near the 1700 block of Old Middleburg Road north. Every patrolman who works the area of the bus stop was alerted to the situation. Parents are worried that the man is looking to abduct one of their children.
"She was very upset. She was crying. I know she was shaken up," said Debbie Wright, worried mother. "She was still upset when I got to the school."
Debbie Wright says her daughter left for school Tuesday morning as usual. Once she left the safety of her street, things got real scary. Mrs. Wright says her daughter was almost at the bus stop when someone jumped out of some bushes wearing a Halloween mask that looked like a vampire. The teen said the man had a gun in his right hand and said something to her.
She didn't wait to hear what it was. The teenager ran down the street to her bus as fast as she could.
"Actually, this is the second time that this has happened," said Debbie Wright. "The last time it happened was just a couple of months ago."
Mrs. Wright is spreading the word in her neighborhood for parents to beware.
"Look out for him and look for anything suspicious," said Debbie Wright. "Report anything."
The teen who said the man chased her says she now refuses to go to that bus stop alone. Most parents will be walking their children to that bus stop in the meantime.
Businesses and parents in the area also said there is an abandoned house in the area behind the bushes. They say they have seen people hanging around there all the time and would like something done to the area to make it safer.
First Coast News