Edmonds poliice on Tuesday issued a suspicious person alert for a man who was trying to get a group of children to go into the woods with him at Edmonds’ Madrona K-8 school last Saturday.
According to Edmonds police spokesman Sgt. Shane Hawley, the man approached a group of children who were playing soccer on the south end of the school field Saturday morning and told them he needed help finding his dog. A parent scared the man off and he ran into the woods.
The man was described as a middle-aged white male, slightly overweight, with shaggy brown hair. He was wearing a blue jacket and jeans.
“This is a good reminder to discuss these types of situations with your kids so they know what to do if you are not around,” Hawley said in an Edmonds Police Department Facebook post.
The principals of Madrona K-8 and Lynndale Elementary, which is occupying the former Woodway Elementary School located nearby while their own school building is being renovated, sent the following letter to families Monday:
Dear Madrona and Lynndale families
We want you to have information regarding a suspicious incident that occurred Saturday morning while kids used the fields at Madrona. A man, described as middle-aged white male, slightly overweight with shaggy brown hair, approached a group of kids playing soccer on the south end of the field and told them he lost his dogs and needed help finding them in the wooded area south of the field.
One mother happened to call to her son who told her what happened and when she yelled “no,” the male quickly disappeared into the wooded area. The mother saw the man wearing a blue jacket and jeans.
We do not want to unnecessarily alarm our students. We did, however, want to inform parents so you are aware we are working closely with Edmonds Police and appreciate the steps they have been taking.
As always, we recommend parents and guardians discuss and reinforce lessons with their student about strangers that they may encounter. Your student’s safety is of the utmost importance to us and we always encourage our staff and volunteers to err on the side of caution when approaching any unknown visitors to campus. We would rather occasionally risk offending those who are welcome guests with a friendly but assertive “May we help you?” than let someone we don’t know be around our students.
Please do not hesitate to contact either of us if you have questions.
Sincerely,
Lynda Fischer and Chris Fulford
Principals, Madrona and Lynndale
Madrona K-8 School is located at 9300 236th St. S.W. while Lynndale Elementary (at the Woodway site) is at 9521 240th St. S.W.
Does this description match the just released sex offender that you posted last week in our area…you know the one that is likely to reoffend? Sound like the same description to me….we can never be to careful with our kids.
If the incident happened on Saturday, why is the Police Department issuing the alert on Tuesday?
That’s a great question Michael-
The Department was not notified this happened until several days after the incident. Which, is a good reminder that we never close! Call us anytime you need us. We want to be notified when suspicious activity is going on.