Police search for Attleboro assault suspect

ATTLEBORO, Mass. (WHDH) -- Police are on a manhunt in Attleboro after a teenager claimed she was kidnapped and sexually assaulted. She was eventually able to run away and get help.

Investigators are asking for the public’s help in finding the suspect accused in the bold attack in broad daylight.

“There was an ambulance, and there was staties, and Attleboro cops and they were just, they were helping this girl out. She was shaking. She didn't have any shoes on,” said Hasan Samrout, a witness.

The woman who said she was victimized told investigators she was walking to her car in a city’s parking garage. She says she cut through an alley when the stranger appeared.

“Confronted her with a knife and forced her into her car and her reports to us are that she was forced to drive to a location, a business on Starkey Avenue,” said Det. Sgt. Arthur Brillon, Attleboro Police Department.

That’s where the 18-year-old victim says she was assaulted, then escaped.

Police say her car was found in a wooded section behind a business.

Police from a number of departments, dogs, and a state police helicopter joined the search for the suspect.

Customers say it's not a problem area, but news of an assault has them worried.

“It’s nerve-wracking to park in the garage and go to work and not be safe,” one woman said.

Police say they will be checking surveillance cameras from the parking garage for clues.