Child offered ride by stranger near Kelowna elementary school

After a 10-year-old girl was approached by a stranger and offered a ride home in Kelowna yesterday, RCMP are investigating what it calls a "concerning" incident.

On Jan. 4, at approximately 2:30 p.m., a 10-year-old girl was walking home alone from school in the Hollywood Road South area near Perry Road in the Rutland neighbourhood, when a man parked in an older black minivan told her he knew her mother and asked if she wanted a ride home, according to the RCMP in a press release.

The girl declined and the man drove away.

The man was described as Caucasian and was wearing a black hoody and a black non-medical face mask.

“This child did exactly the right thing in this situation,” says Cpl. Jocelyn Noseworthy of the Kelowna RCMP, in the news release. “This incident is concerning, and we are very interested in identifying the man involved in it.”

Anyone with information is asked to call the Kelowna RCMP at 250-762-3300 or remain anonymous by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or by leaving a tip online here.

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