Police: Blood Evidence Being Processed In Reported Abduction Case
HOMESTEAD (KDKA) -- Police and the SWAT team surrounded an apartment building in Homestead Thursday afternoon and took two people into custody after the reported abduction of a teen who was later found beaten nearby.
Authorities started clearing the scene at the building in the 330-block of E. 9th Avenue around 6 p.m., but the investigation into the incident is ongoing.
"All of the sudden, there was police everywhere," said Patti Karhut, a witness. "Fast as you could snap your fingers. They come out; they had their guns… drawn all their guns."
The Allegheny County SWAT Team and dozens of police from neighboring communities surrounded the building after a mother called 911 about the possible abduction of her 16-year-old son who was not at school Thursday.
"It was like something out of the movies," added Karhut. "My oldest son was there with me and I told him, 'Go into the bedroom and put the TV on.' He's like, 'Just get down out of the windows, Mom.'"
A perimeter was established around the E. 9th Avenue apartment house after police got a tip from an FBI agent that the victim and several of the boy's alleged abductors might be inside.
As it turned out, however, neither the teen nor his alleged kidnappers were found inside the apartment house. But something else was found in the basement.
"What is being processed now is blood evidence," said Chief Jeff DeSimone, of Homestead Police. "And it's signs that somebody had been assaulted and/or beaten, which goes along with the FBI's information that the suspects and possibly the victim might have been taken to that location."
The alleged kidnapped victim, badly beaten and without shoes, was found a few blocks from the apartment house. He was taken to Mercy Hospital for treatment.
There's no word on his identity or condition. Meanwhile, some people have been questioned, but there have been no arrests made in connection with the incident.
As investigators tried to piece together what took place, they said they found a number of shell casings outside the boy's house near the corner of 14th and Sarah Streets, indicating there was gunfire from two directions.
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