Police: Man threatens teen with HIV syringe

WALTHAM, Mass. (WHDH) -- Police said a teenager was targeted by a man who threatened her with what he claimed to be an HIV tainted needle and syringe in Waltham on Tuesday.

Police said Scott Steverding, a local man known to police, attacked a teenager outside a CVS on Harvard Street in broad daylight.

Surveillance video shows a man, who police say is Steverding, walking up to the driver of a Jeep.

“At this point he’s threatening her with the HIV syringe,” said Det. Sgt. Joseph Guigna of the Waltham Police Department.

Video then shows the 17-year-old female driver getting out of the car, walking to the back of the vehicle, trying to stop it and almost getting run down.

“He ended up speeding towards her so she had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit,” said Guigna.

Police said Steverding also robbed a Waltham gas station earlier in the week. Steverding has not been arrested.

“He threatened somebody with a syringe that was one of the first violent acts he’s done recently, but it could progress from there,” said Guigna.

The stolen Jeep was discovered in Boston and brought back to Waltham, where word of the incident is starting to spread.

“It’s absolutely terrifying knowing that I’m young as well -- she’s 17, I’m 25 -- and he obviously is targeting young girls because they are easy prey,” said one woman.

The surveillance video also shows some customers walking by as the victim, visibly shaken, asked for help.

Police consider Steverding a threat to public safety.

“Just the threat of being infected with HIV, the way he did it in broad daylight, you know, a young girl,” said Guigna.

The victim’s phone was also stolen. The victim’s mother said a woman stopped and let her daughter use her phone to call her. The victim’s mother said she is still shaken from the incident.

The suspect is facing a slew of charges including attempted murder.