Police are searching for a man suspected of trying to abduct three different women near the University of Arizona campus in Tucson this past week. The Tucson Police Department said in a news release that the abduction attempts happened on three different days and in three different off-campus locations, adding that they have identified at least two of the victims as students at the university, both of whom were assaulted in the incidents. The third woman is a student at University of Arizona, as well.
Officers with the University of Arizona Police Department received a call from a student on Sunday, reporting that a man approached her from behind, put his arm around her waist and assaulted her. The student was not injured, police said, and after she screamed, the suspect ran off. Another victim reported to Tucson Police’s sexual assault unit that she had been followed by a driver matching the suspect’s description on Wednesday morning, Dec. 6, and also shared an updated description of the suspect and his vehicle.
Tuscan Police have described the suspect as a man with a dark complexion, possibly Hispanic, between 5 feet 10 inches and 6 feet tall, with a medium to heavyset build and “close buzz cut hair.” The suspect was seen driving a “dark purplish four-door hatchback or crossover vehicle with a dented front bumper, tinted windows, and no front license plate”. According to police, the vehicle is either a dark blue 2000s Toyota Camry or Toyota Corolla.
Chris Dennison, the assistant police chief in Tucson, asked members of the surrounding community to help by joining the police department’s open camera registry, which “allows residents and business owners to voluntarily register their surveillance cameras with the police department.” In addition, he said both the FBI and U.S. Marshals Service have also joined their search for the suspect.
Editorial credit: Katherine Welles / Shuttestock.com