By Linda Taaffe

Man flees Mtn. View shopping center after allegedly trying to pull girl, 13, into car

The identity and whereabouts of the man who allegedly tried to abduct a 13-year-old girl in the parking lot of a Mountain View shopping center last week remained unknown Monday.

Mountain View police released a sketch of the man last Friday, asking for the public’s assistance in identifying him.

Police said the man allegedly attempted to pull the girl into his car at 5:45 p.m., Sept. 5, while she was walking behind the Shell gas station on Grant Road.

The teen told police that the man drove up next to her, reached out of his vehicle, grabbed her arm and attempted to pull her into the car. She managed to struggle free from the man’s grip.

The man allegedly bit her arm during the struggle, she said. The teen struck the man one time in the face with her fist before he let go and she was able to run from the area, police said.

Police were unable to locate the man.

The teen told police that the suspect was a white man, between 17 and 19 years old, clean shaven, dressed all in black with a 4-inch tattoo of a dragon on his left arm.

He was wearing a black beanie on his head.

He was driving a red four-door convertible with white seat covers and a small plastic dog on the front dash.

Police were continuing the investigation Monday.

Anyone with information should call the Mountain View Police Department at 903-6344.