Two males allegedly attempted to kidnap a U student late Tuesday night.
A 19-year-old female student was walking to her dorm after parking her vehicle in the Sage Point lot when the incident occurred around 11:20 p.m. A white four-door vehicle approached the student. She mistook the car as one belonging to a friend, said Sgt. Garth Smith of U Police.
A the victim neared the side of the car, the male on the passenger side opened his door and grabbed her, Smith said. According to the U’s campus-wide email alert, the man pulled her arm in an attempt to bring her inside the vehicle.
A group of students walked around the building at that time and “startled” the male individual, Smith said. The man released the female student, who ran away from the scene, and the vehicle drove off. The victim was not injured.
U Police believe the car may be a Toyota Camry or Corolla.
The passenger side perpetrator is described as a blonde and shorthaired white male wearing a light blue dress shirt, Smith said. Description of the other involved man is limited; U Police said all the information they have on the driver is that he is a white male.
An email sent to U students late Tuesday night stated that the incident is most likely not related to a rape that was reported to U Police on Feb. 6. That incident also took place in a parking lot and involved a man luring a woman into a car.
As a follow-up to the U’s email, Housing and Residential Education sent students information about resources on campus and in the community to help them process the incident. They urged students to contact U Police at (801) 585-2677 with information on the attempted kidnapping or for a safety escort. They also said students can reach out to the University Neuropsychiatric Institute, the Women’s Resource Center or University Counseling Services for aid.
Smith said the investigation is ongoing, but was unsure about the threat that the alleged perpetrators pose to students.
“That’s why we put out the alert, to let people know to be aware of their surroundings in the hopes that it doesn’t happen again,” Smith said.