Thirteen-year-old girls targeted in Minneapolis abduction attempts, detective says

(CBS) MINNEAPOLIS - A police detective in Minneapolis says there have been a string of calls about someone - or several people - trying to lure 13-year-old girls in southwest Minneapolis, CBS Minnesota reports.

Since early May, there have been five different reports of luring in the Linden Hills area and all of the girls were lucky enough to get away, the station reports.

"Our oldest granddaughter is 11 and it's just scary to think of anything like that," Paula Bellin, a Minneapolis resident, told the station.

A Minneapolis detective  who works in the Linden Hills area also calls the recurring incidents troubling.

According to the station, in one incident, an unidentified suspect grabbed a 13-year-old's wrist and told her to keep quiet. Another time, someone in a white Camry closely followed a 13-year-old walking her dog. Then, in another instance, two 13-year-old girls were approached by a van and people gestured at them to get inside.

"In several of the instances the victims ran, they got away, and they put some distance again between them and the person that was talking to them," the detective told CBS Minnesota.

While the descriptions of the perpetrators have varied, police say they are not convinced the incidents are unrelated. According to the station, authorities say they hope these recurring instances will be a wake-up call for students and parents.

Police are reportedly now patrolling the problematic areas on foot and bike.