Berkeley police investigate alleged abduction attempts near Willard Middle School

BERKELEY, Calif. (KGO) -- Police patrols are around numerous Berkeley schools and teachers are reminding students about safety after a man allegedly tried to lure girls into his mini-van near Willard Middle School on Friday.

Students on their way back to school Monday morning became more aware of their surroundings. "We don't want our kids to be frightened by this, we want them to be alerted," Unified School District spokesperson Mark Coplan said.

Alerting the community is exactly what the district did after two attempted abductions Friday morning. "I got several messages from the school, email and voice mail," Kim Aronson said.

"It's fortunate that no one apparently was harmed, but it raised the awareness a lot among parents and kids around here, which is probably a good thing," Gary Casterline said.

Casterline has already had a talk with his 7th grader. "They told me to never listen or talk to a stranger that you don't know," Rosa Casterline said.

That lesson will continue in class Monday when teachers also have a talk with their students, telling them to stay away from strangers.

Police presence has been increased district wide to help everyone feel safer after the attempted abduction occurred near Willow Park.

Officials say minutes later he allegedly tried to lure another young girl a few blocks away, but he took off when he saw her dad.

"Our students did exactly the right things, they saw danger, they stepped away from it and they went directly to an adult to report it," Coplan said.

Officials say the man is described as a Hispanic male, between 30 to 40 years old, with dark hair and a mustache. The man is also described as heavy set and was last seen wearing a baseball cap.

His car is described as a dark green mini-van that could possibly a Nissan Quest model with a rear-tinted window.

Berkeley school officials say they will continue to work with Berkeley police to try and capture this suspect.

Police are asking anyone with information to call them.