Cranberry police: Teen kidnapped at gunpoint
Cranberry Township police said they are investigating a report of an armed break-in and the kidnapping of a 17-year-old boy early Tuesday, Feb. 28, morning in the gated community of Stockton Ridge.
A 39-year-old woman told police two armed men entered her home at 1:30 a.m., bound her 17-year-old son, ransacked the home and left, taking the teen with them at gunpoint, police said.
They fled in the woman’s vehicle, but that vehicle was found abandoned a short distance away, leading police to believe that there was another vehicle waiting for them.
After police in neighboring counties were asked to be on the lookout, Beaver County 911 received a call for the 17-year-old from a convenience store in Rochester. He has been returned to his mother, police said.
Information gathered to this point leads investigators to believe that the robbery and abduction was not random and this family was targeted for reasons currently unknown, police said.
Christian Dempsey, a resident of Stockton Ridge, has lived in the community a few months. He said Tuesday evening that he wasn’t aware of the incident until the late morning.
“It was a little unsettling, being in a better part of town, you think stuff like that wouldn’t happen around here,” he said.
The Stockton Ridge community is generally a safe one, Dempsey said.
“It’s a small, tight knit community. Everyone seems very friendly. A lot of young couples are out walking their dogs, children play outside,” he said. “This stuff can happen anytime, anywhere, even the best of places.”
Dempsey said this is a good reminder to take protective measures in your home.
“It’s better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it,” he said.
Police ask anyone with information about the incident to call the Cranberry police at 724-776-5180, Ext. 5.
Eagle staff writer Molly Miller contributed to this report.
