Pasco County deputies are looking into two suspicious incidents that occurred as kids walked home from school.
The incidents happened almost a week apart. Deputies do not believe they are connected.
The first incident occurred last week in a Concord Station neighborhood. According to authorities, a middle school student was walking home with a friend when a blue 4-door hatchback car drove up. The man said "hello" and "you're looking good baby." The girls ran away.
Then on Tuesday, a young girl who was walking home, noticed a white van pull up. Deputies said the man got out and followed the young girl. It happened near Snowdonia Drive and Mentmore Boulevard in Land O' Lakes. As she walked faster, so did he. Deputies said the young girl heard "a loud grunting noise." The middle school student ran toward a group of kids and saw the suspicious man go back to the van.
"You would never think that something like this would happen like around your neighborhood or anything like that," Mara Fizi said.
Fizi, 14, is scared. Her mother said she teaches her daughter safety tips, but she still worries.
"You know you raise your child and there are people, you know, creeps out there that prey on those young lives and they need to be behind bars and we as a society, you know, need to be on the watch out 'cause you never, never really (can) be safe," her mother said.
Deputies said they have stopped a few cars that match the description of the two cars reported in both suspicious incidents; deputies do not have any suspects.
“It’s concerning. I have a teenage girl that walks home," Melanie Perry said.
