Update: 'Suspicious Person' Grabbed Woman at Park

Update Aug. 5, 6:34 a.m.: The man has been located and an investigation is ongoing. The Tampa Police Department says it will release more details later today.

Earlier:

An incident at a Tampa Palms park has local police on edge and wondering just what a man’s intention was when he grabbed a mother from behind.

Tampa Police Department spokeswoman Andrea Davis said the incident took place Monday around 1:30 p.m. at Hampton Park, 16311 Tampa Palms Blvd. W., as a mother and her two children were enjoying a day outside. A man walked up to the woman from behind, “grabbed her shoulder and turned her around,” Davis wrote in an email to media.

The woman screamed and then ran away. The man began to chase her, but a security guard at the park heard the commotion. The guard then chased the man into a swampy area on the park’s south side before losing him entirely.

Police were then called, Davis wrote. Although a K-9 unit and air service searched for the man, they could not find him.

It is unclear what the man’s intentions were, Davis said. With that in mind, the police department is asking people to be on the lookout for the man and to be wary. A surveillance camera photo of the man has been released by the department.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Tampa Police Department