Police are on the lookout for a teenager they say robbed a 12-year-old girl at knifepoint as she walked through her Dunwoody neighborhood.
The man reportedly jumped out of a van in the Mill Glen subdivision Friday night, grabbed the girl by the waist and held out a knife, demanding she empty her pockets, the victim told Dunwoody police.
She handed over $40 cash and the man went on his way, Channel 2 Action News reported. The girl was not injured.
“Thankfully she had some cash on her, and that she was quick-thinking and thought well on her feet, because if she hadn’t, you hate to think what would have happened,” neighbor Sharon Troncale told Channel 2.
Troncale said the incident made her scared for her own children to walk alone in the neighborhood. She told the news station she and other parents are now wary of letting their kids travel to and from the neighborhood pool without supervision.
The victim described the alleged robber as an older teenager, between 16 and 18 years old, according to Dunwoody police. She told officers he was driving an older model gold van with “unusually loud exhaust” when he approached her at the intersection of Withmere Way and Withmere Lane around 6 p.m. Friday.
“It certainly appears to be a random act,” Sgt. Robert Parsons told Channel 2. “We have not had any similar incidents in that area before or since.”
Anyone with information should contact Detective Jesus Maldonado at jesus.maldonado@dunwoodyga.gov or call 678-382-6914. Anonymous tips may be submitted through the Dunwoody Police Department's website or by texting CRIMES (274-437). Use the key word DPDTIPS at the start of your message.
