Atlanta police say they have ruled out any connection between the Friday morning assault of a Kennesaw State University student and two attempted abductions early Wednesday in Reynoldstown and Edgewood.
Police were comparing notes on the three cases after witnesses provided coinciding details that seemed to point to the same suspect.
But Atlanta police spokesman Curtis Davenport said the KSU attacker was described as being significantly taller than the man wanted for Wednesday's assaults. Earlier Friday Davenport said police were aware of the similarities and were investigating a possible link.
The KSU attacker was described as a black male with dreadlocks, wearing a dark-colored sweater, jeans, colorful Nike tennis shoes, a dark-colored watch and a ski mask.
Friday's incident occurred around 6 a.m. at the KSU Place student housing, near the victim's vehicle. A text alert sent earlier to Kennesaw State students described the attack as a sexual assault but officials are now hedging on the details.
That narrative coincided with the second of Wednesday's two attacks. According to the incident report supplied by Atlanta police, witnesses spotted a woman being punched in the mouth by the gun-wielding suspect as she walked to her car on Hawthorne Street in Reynoldstown.
He was "pushing her to get her into the open trunk of his car," the report states.
The victim was able to escape after a neighbor and an off-duty police officer intervened. The masked gunman inexplicably took off his mask before speeding off, said Zone 6 commander Maj. Keith Meadows, and witnesses were able to get a description.
Police believe the suspect was involved in another attempted abduction earlier Wednesday morning less than a mile away.
In that incident the dreadlocked man dragged a young Edgewood woman off her porch and forced her into his car trunk. She managed to find an interior lever that opened the trunk and jumped out of the moving vehicle, described as an older-model dark-colored sedan.
Kennesaw State officials said Friday's attacker was spotted in an older-model, silver Honda Civic.
Arlethia Perry-Johnson, Kennesaw State's vice president for external affairs, said the KSU Police Department has shared details of the incident with Atlanta police.
On Thursday Meadows told reporters he feared the suspect would strike again.
"You know he was violent towards both victims in this case, and we do know that violence has a tendency to escalate from time to time," said the Zone 6 commander.
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