City Of Berkeley: Arrest Made Of The Suspect Approaching Teenage Girls

Berkeley CA

13 December, 2021

1:19 PM

Description

Press release from City of Berkeley: Wednesday, December 08, 2021 Berkeley, California (Wednesday, December 08, 2021) - On the afternoon of December 8th, detectives arrested a 32-year-old Oakland man in connection with two cases where the suspect approached teenage girls walking to and from school—attempting to gain their compliance by telling them he was a police officer. The suspect was not known to the victims. On the evening of September 29th, the suspect approached a high-school age teen on the 1300 block of Gilman Street, followed her on-foot, engaged her in a conversation, blocked her path, demanded a hug, and told her that he was a police officer and had a gun (see prior news release). On the morning of December 6th, the same suspect followed another girl on-foot in the area of McGee Avenue and Channing Way while on her way to school. In this case, the suspect again wanted a hug, told the girl he was a police officer, blocked her path in a less visible part of the sidewalk (where there were many plants and trees), and made a threat that he had a knife (see prior news release). Thankfully, in both cases, the girls were able to safely get away from the suspect. Throughout this investigation, detectives have received a number of helpful tips and videos from the community to assist in the investigation. This press release was produced by City of Berkeley. The views expressed here are the author's own.