Columbia Police officers have increased foot and vehicular patrols in the Two Notch Road area after two reported incidents of suspicious activity this week.
An 11-year-old girl told relatives that a light-skinned black male in a silver car made an inappropriate gesture at her as she walked to school at the 2400 block of Waites Road before 8:00 a.m. Monday.
She reports that the next day as she walked home from school around 4:00 p.m. in the same area, the man tried to lure her inside of the vehicle.
The child ran home and reported the incidents to relatives who in turn called CPD.
The suspect is described as being a heavy set black male, possibly in his 30s, last seen wearing a bright fluorescent green T-shirt and an orange baseball cap.
He was possibly driving a newer model, silver Kia Forte. CPD has located surveillance pictures of the vehicle and issued a police bulletin regarding the investigation.
In addition to the extra patrols in the area, members of the Metro Region Community Response Team (CRT) have notified community leaders and residents about the incidents, and showed pictures of the suspicious vehicle to them.
SVU Investigators are also being assisted by CPD’s K9 Unit and School Resource Officers (SROs) regarding the case.
At this time, it is not believed that the CPD investigation is connected to the cases in the Irmo area.
Police Chief Skip Holbrook encourages citizens to call, text or submit online, their anonymous tip regarding the incidents to Crimestoppers in any of the following ways:
CALL toll-free, 888-CRIME-SC (274-6372).
TEXT to CRIMES (274637), and mark the beginning of the message with “TIPSC,” followed by the tip information.
LOG onto: www.midlandscrimestoppers.com, and click on the red “Submit a tip” tab.