GUSD Superintendent Winfred Roberson Jr. made a ConnectEd call to all GUSD households on Wednesday evening after it was reported that the Glendale Police Dept. is investigating the attempted kidnapping of two children that occurred approximately 20 minutes apart from each other on Wednesday.

In a statement by the Glendale Police Dept., the first incident occurred at 5:11 p.m. at the intersection of Chevy Chase Drive and Adams Street. A mother was walking her infant child in a stroller when she was approached by the suspect who grabbed the child out of the stroller and attempted to flee. The mother struggled over her baby and was able to get her baby back. The suspect then fled the scene.

In this incident, the suspect was described as a female Hispanic with short thick hair, wearing heavy winter style clothing. The suspect entered the driver seat of a small white or silver compact car and fled the scene. The first three characters of the license plate are possibly “7HY.”

The second incident happened less than a mile away at 5:35 p.m. at John Marshall Elementary School located 1201 E. Broadway at the intersection of Chevy Chase Drive and Broadway. The caller was an 8-year-old child who reported to the 911 operator that someone tried to steal his 2-year-old brother. In this incident, the mother was standing nearby and was able to interrupt the kidnap and the suspect again fled in a small four-door silver sedan. This incident occurred outside of the campus.

In the second incident, the 8-year-old witness described the suspect as a man that was dressed like a woman. The child’s mother described the suspect as a male in his late 40s or 50s with salt-and-pepper hair and a two-day old beard. She described him being dressed in a gray shirt with a multi-colored design on the front.

Roberson said in the ConnectEd message that there will increased adult supervision at all school drop off and pick up locations at all GUSD schools. More information will be made available on the GUSD website.

The Glendale Police Dept. is actively investigating these two incidents and detectives believe the suspect or suspects are related to both incidents. The police department is working closely with Glendale Unified School officials to notify parents and is requesting everyone to be extra vigilant.

Anyone with any information is urged to call (818) 548-4911.