Aberdeen resident Violet Ripken, mother of Baltimore Orioles Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr., was accosted at gunpoint in the parking lot of an Aberdeen bank Tuesday afternoon but scared off her attacker using her car alarm, city police said.
The incident came 16 months after Ripken, 75, was abducted from her home and returned safely a day later. However, Aberdeen police said there was no apparent connection between Tuesday’s incident, for which a suspect has been arrested, and the earlier kidnapping, which remains unsolved.
According to Aberdeen Police, at approximately 3 p.m. Tuesday, an employee at the NBRS Bank branch in the 200 block of West Bel Air Avenue told officers that Ripken reported a male suspect had approached her in the bank parking lot and displayed a handgun.
The man told Ripken he wanted her car, but Ripken activated her car’s panic alarm from her keyless entry device, and the suspect fled the area, police said. Ripken was unharmed.
Investigators identified the man through an ATM photo, and officers canvassing the area located him at approximately 5:15 p.m., taking him into custody. The suspect’s identity was not immediately available pending charges in the case, according to Aberdeen Police Department spokesman Lt. Fred Budnick.
Budnick said there was no immediate connection between Tuesday’s incident and the July 2012 kidnapping of Ripken.
“There’s no apparent connection,” he said. “It appears at this point to be a crime of opportunity.”
Ripken was taken from her home on the morning of July 24, 2012 by an unidentified man and driven around the area through the remainder of the day and the next night before being returned unharmed to her home on July 25. Aberdeen police have not identified a suspect in the case.
In August, Ripken Jr. increased the reward for information leading to the suspect to $100,000. He was present in the broadcasting booth Tuesday night as scheduled for Game 4 of the National League Championship Series in Los Angeles.
Anyone with information on Tuesday’s case is asked to call the Criminal Investigation Section of the Aberdeen Police Department at (410) 272-2121.
What an impotent coward, threatening a woman (and with a gun no less). If you’re that desperate for money, bust open an ATM, you have just as much of a risk getting caught and you’re not putting anyone’s life in danger.
She needs to do “on line” banking from now on! Seriously.
Yes Kenny, that’s the answer… Tell the crooks to rob ATM machines! Haaaa, and you use words like impotent to describe their actions? Surely you don’t have children I hope!
Perhaps, a little less APD speed enforcement and a little more street/shop patrol? I know those speeders doing 31 mph in a 25 mph zone are criminals but what’s actually criminal is the overweight, can’t hardly get out of my patrol car, town clowns who park across from Exxon just waiting for that big speeder, a prostitute, or the shift change.
And as far as you go Becky Z, living your life with your head buried in the dirt like an ostrich is no way to go. Kudos to Mrs. Ripken for continuing to live her life and stay active from the confines of her home. I also applaud the efforts of the APD in this matter. I will end with this question though, if it were a regular citizen whom this may have happened to…. Would the outcome have been as swift, or even similar in nature?
The first time involved an ATM as well. ATMs are dangerous. That’s why the banks won’t tell you how many people are murdered each year for their ATM card and PIN. http://atmsafetypin.wordpress.com/2013/07/19/8/