Nanaimo RCMP hope the public can help identify a man alleged to have attempted to abduct a 15-year-old girl from the parking lot of her home on Boundary Avenue in central Nanaimo.
The incident happened Feb. 20 between 11 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. and ended when the girl managed to run away from the suspect.
The victim told police she was taking out the garbage from her apartment on Boundary Avenue when a man appeared from the side of the building and walked up behind her. He placed a hand on her shoulder, started to push her and told her to start walking.
The suspect walked directly behind her as they headed toward Crescent View Drive. Suspect and victim walked along a paved pathway toward a Bowen Road apartment complex where the girl jumped over a fence and managed to flee unharmed from the suspect. She then ran to a home on Meredith Road where she banged on the front door and had the owner call her mother to take her home.
The suspect is described as First Nations, about 6-foot-2 to 6-foot-4 with a solid build, black hair with bangs that hung low over his forehead.
The lower half of his face from the nose down was concealed with a black cloth or mask. He wore a red hoodie pulled tight around his face and black or blue jeans with a chain that hung from the hip pocket to the front belt loop.
"We've exhausted all our investigative leads and we're at the point now where we really need the public's assistance in identifying who this person is," said Const. Gary O'Brien, Nanaimo RCMP spokesman.
If anyone has information about this incident or the suspect, please call the Nanaimo RCMP at 250-754-2345 or contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477, text 274637, keyword Nanaimo or leave a tip online at www.nanaimocrimestoppers.com.