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Wright State issues safety alert after man claims he’s taken off campus at gunpoint

UPDATE @ 11:35 p.m.:  According to the alert Wright State University officials issued about 11:14 p.m.:

"It was reported to the Wright State University Police Department [at 6:47 p.m.] that a male not affiliated with the university was walking on campus in the vicinity of University Boulevard and Rockafield when an unknown subject got out of a white van, brandished a handgun, and forced the victim into the van. 

“The victim said he was driven around for approximately twenty minutes and dropped off campus along 675. The victim says he did not know the suspects, they did not injure him and they took nothing from him during the incident.  

"The victim described the suspects as being white males. He said one suspect had salt-and-pepper hair, was wearing a baseball cap, and a black long-sleeved shirt. He said the other suspect was wearing a baseball cap, and a gray long-sleeved shirt." 

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If you have information about the incident, you are asked to contact the university police, (937) 775-2111.

UPDATE @ 10:32 p.m.:  The continuing Wright State police investigation into a man's claim he was taken off campus at gunpoint and put into a white van has produced more details that are raising more questions about what may have happened.

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Nevertheless, WSU spokesman Seth Bauguess said the university will issue a campus safety alert because of the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Campus police have learned that the victim is homeless and told police he walked from Dayton to campus to "take pictures."

He told police about being forced into the van at gunpoint, then was driven around. They didn't hurt or rob him and dropped him off at the I-675 overpass, Bauguess said the man told police.

The man then called police.

Beavercreek police did pull over a white van with two Mexican occupants, but the victim says it was two white guys who grabbed him.

An earlier part of a BOLO issued to area police agencies, turns out to be unrelated to an attempted kidnapping or the search for the white van.

That earlier part of the BOLO indicated that a juvenile ran to a Beavercreek Twp. fire station to report he had been kidnapped at gunpoint and dropped off at the Wright State campus.

Bauguess said campus police have been able to determine the juvenile somehow became separated from a band camp he was attending, but police found him and reunited him with the band camp.

The band camp had nothing to do with the BOLO or the suspected kidnapping, he said.

UPDATE @ 9:40 p.m.: Wright State University is releasing a campus wide safety alert tonight in response to an incident involving a man who was taken off campus at gunpoint earlier tonight.

WSU spokesman Seth Bauguess said a university police investigation has been able to determine that about 7:30 p.m., a white van pulled up next to a male in his 30s and someone in that van armed with a gun ordered the male inside.

The victim has nothing to do with Wright State, police have been able to determine. He was walking on campus for unknown reason.

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Someone from the van, either the driver or passenger, got out and pointed a gun at the male in ordering him to get in the van, Bauguess said the investigation determined. The victim got in and was later dropped off somewhere in the Beavercreek area.

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In an incident that may be connected, Greene County sheriff's Sgt. Beth Prall said the sheriff's office provided information to Wright State concerning a suspicious vehicle matching the general description of the white van in the campus incident.

Prall said that according to the sheriff's investigation, the van approached two girls near a housing development off Dayton Xenia Road. Someone in the van opened the door, but no words were exchanged and the girls ran home, the sergeant said.

They told their parents about the encounter. Their parents called 911.

Sgt. Prall said she could not provide the time of the call, but the incident occurred "earlier this evening."

INITIAL REPORT

A BOLO has been issued to area police for a newer, white panel van believed to have been involved in an attempted kidnapping.

According to a police broadcast from the Montgomery County Regional Dispatch, police are being told to look for the van being driven by an older Hispanic male who has heavy tattoos on his arms and is wearing a black hat. His passenger is believed to be a young Hispanic male.

They have been seen in the area of The Greene sometime between 6:45 and 7:10 p.m.

According to the broadcast, the van -- which is believed to have heavily tinted windows -- followed two juvenile females in the area of Oakwood Drive in Beavercreek Twp.

The young women hid from the van, which circled the neighborhood at least twice before leaving. When this incident occurred is uncertain.

In the same broadcast, Beavercreek police reported that a juvenile ran to a city fire station to report that he had been kidnapped at gunpoint and dropped off at Wright State University.

Reports of a van matching the general description was seen at the Fairfield Commons Mall this evening.

We will update this developing report.

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