Six Charged In New York Abduction Of Two College Students From Chicago Suburbs
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — Six people have been charged in connection with the abduction of two New York college students. But the details surrounding the incident, which ended when a SWAT team stormed a home near the school, remain unclear.
Rochester police announced the charges late Monday night. Lydell Strickland, 26, Dennis Perez, 23, and Leah Gigliotti, 20, all of Rochester, and Samantha Hughes, 19, of Pittsford, were charged with first-degree kidnapping. Inalia Rolldan, 19, and Ruth Lora, 19, both of Rochester, were charged with second-degree kidnapping. It was not immediately clear if they had attorneys.
Police provided no possible motive for the incident, which ended when a SWAT team rescued the two University of Rochester seniors from a home about four miles from the school Sunday night.
Police said Nicholas Kollias, of Northbrook, Illinois, and Ani Okeke Ewo, of Aurora, Illinois, were abducted and held hostage, and one suffered a gunshot wound to the leg. Police said they were targeted by their assailants. They did not identify which student was shot or any other injuries either student may have suffered.
The students were reported missing Saturday evening, hours after they were last seen near the school.
Earlier Monday night, police said they recovered the BMW SUV that they believed the two were traveling in before they were abducted.
According to a 2015 roster posted on the university's website, Ewo is a cornerback for the football team, while Kollias was listed as a defensive end on the 2014 roster.
University President Joel Seligman issued a statement Monday saying: "I will, at an appropriate time in the near future, be able to provide more detail about this very serious, but isolated, incident."
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