A teen was abducted while walking to school in Hamtramck on Monday morning, and officers arrested the suspect within 30 minutes, the city’s police chief said.
During a press conference on April 13, Hamtramck Police Chief Hussein Farhat said they received a call about a possible kidnapping at 7:09 a.m., and arrested the suspect within a half hour.
The student, identified as a 16-year-old, was found safe when officers arrested the suspect.
A weapon was also recovered, Farhat said.
Surveillance and body camera footage show the suspect parking a tan-colored car at a pump and walking into the gas station store with the victim.
The video then shows the suspect walking out of the store as police arrived. You can watch the full press conference and the body camera/surveillance footage in the video at the top of this article.
The suspect was taken into custody. The victim and the suspect did not know each other, according to the chief.
Farhat declined to release additional information about the suspect during a press conference, saying the suspect had not yet been arraigned.
Mayor Adam Alharbi, however, said the suspect has a history of rape charges.
“It’s a criminal who had a history of rape charges, and we will make sure that he gets what he deserves,” Alharbi said.
The mayor also called on the city of Detroit to “step it up” when punishing criminals.
“I feel bad for the family, and we will make sure that this incident doesn’t happen again, and the city of Detroit needs to step it up. The court system needs to make sure that they do punish these criminals, especially with rape issues.”
Earlier this morning, the president of the Board of Education for Hamtramck Public Schools, Abdulmalik Algahaim, said the abduction happened near the “bus stop in the areas of Edwin/Pulaski and Edwin/Bromback.”
Algahaim said that classmates witnessed the abduction and helped “track the student’s location through social media and cell phone information.”
Previous coverage --> Hamtramck student abducted from bus stop at gunpoint; classmates use social media to track suspect
The chief said police will increase patrols as a safety precaution, but emphasized that this was an isolated incident and the suspect is in custody.
More information will be released when the suspect is arraigned, which police believe will happen in the next 48 hours.