KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — Two Ramstein Elementary School students say they were approached on campus Wednesday by an “unknown male,” who fled when the students ran inside to alert their teacher, according to a statement from the 86th Airlift Wing.
Parents of Ramstein Elementary students were alerted of the incident Wednesday in an email from the school’s principal.
According to the wing’s statement, “the students perceived the situation as unsafe, so they ran inside the school and reported the incident to their teacher, while the unknown male fled.”
School officials notified base security, which dispatched patrols to search for the individual and conduct checks at the base’s exits, according to the wing.
In the email to parents, school Principal Joseph Lovett wrote: “The Air Force Office of Special Investigations and the Army Criminal Investigation Command, are jointly investigating and following up every lead.”
Lovett noted, “there is an ongoing concern about incidents involving threats to children in the KMC [Kaiserslautern Military Community].”
The incident comes nearly nine months after the last of three reported instances of alleged molestation or attempted abduction that last year sparked concern among parents and new rules to safeguard children on U.S. Army and Air Force bases in the Kaiserslautern area.
Authorities believe those three cases were linked, based on similarities among the victims — all girls from 5 to 7 years old — and similar descriptions of a male suspect in Army camouflage pants. No suspect was apprehended in those cases.
No distinguishing details about the students or the individual reported to have approached them in the latest incident have been released by investigators, according to wing officials.
The wing statement asks that anyone with “any information they think might help with the investigation” call the Air Force Office of Special Investigations tip line at 0171-745-5382.
