Police are actively investigating a sexual assault that occurred this afternoon, where an unknown suspect armed with a handgun pulled a high school-aged jogger off a path and sexually assaulted her in a greenbelt.
On Wednesday, March 28, 2018 at about 1:47 p.m., our 24-hour dispatch center received a 9-1-1 call from a passerby reporting an assault that had just occurred near the intersection of Arastradero Road and Deer Creek Road. Officers responded to the area immediately and located a high school-aged juvenile female victim in the greenbelt near that intersection. Paramedics from the Palo Alto Fire Department transported the victim to a local hospital for treatment. The victim is in stable physical condition.
The preliminary investigation shows that the victim was jogging westbound on the pedestrian/bicycle path that runs parallel to Arastradero Road (on the north side of the roadway). The suspect emerged from the greenbelt and pulled the victim off of the path, placed a gun to her head, and sexually assaulted her. The suspect fled the scene on foot, and the victim flagged down a passerby to call for help.
Officers and detectives conducted an extensive search of the area, including with the assistance of deputies from the Stanford Department of Public Safety, officers and a canine from the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety, and officers and a helicopter from the California Highway Patrol. Police could not locate the suspect, and do not know if he had access to a vehicle that may have been parked nearby.
The victim described the suspect as a male in his thirties, possibly of Filipino descent, about 5’10” tall, wearing a black sweatshirt with a bear logo on it with a white and red border. He was also wearing gray baggy pants and black sneakers. The suspect was armed with a handgun, which the victim did not describe further.
Detectives are actively investigating this incident and are working with the victim to get further details into what occurred. It is unknown at this point if the victim will be able to work with a police sketch artist. If she is, we will release that sketch as soon as it is available.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call our 24-hour dispatch center at 650-329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to [email protected] or sent via text message or voice mail to 650-383-8984. Tips can also be submitted anonymously through our free mobile app, downloadable at www.bit.ly/PAPD-AppStore or www.bit.ly/PAPD-GooglePlay.
