Quick thinking and a helpful friend led to the capture last week of a man who police say tried to abduct a Chantilly woman. Arrested was Phillip David Gray, 30, of 7086 Shepherdstown Road in Warrenton.
According to Fairfax County police, the woman, 27, was leaving her home, last Friday, June 13, when a man accosted her at her front door and pushed her back inside. They say that the suspect, a distant acquaintance of hers, reportedly held her down and caused her minor injuries.
She then convinced the intruder to release her and take her to the hospital because she needed medical attention. The man complied by taking her by the arm and escorting her to the Sully Station Shopping Center where he'd parked his car.
However, as they were leaving her house, a male friend of hers approached them and noticed that something didn't seem right. The woman was then able to signal to her friend that she was in need of help.
When the suspect and victim arrived at the shopping center, on Westfields Boulevard in Centreville, the friend drove up and again confronted the alleged abductor. The suspect loosened his grip, and the woman ran into the Safeway grocery store, where she screamed for help.
THE MAN chased her, but was thwarted by the friend — who drove his car in between the man and his prey. But the pursuer refused to give up and continued chasing the woman. However, when he noticed that a group of people was gathering to help her, he fled the scene in his car.
Shortly afterward, say police, Gray admitted himself to Fauquier County Hospital for treatment of leg injuries sustained when he ran into the friend's car. Police say he allegedly told medical personnel there that he was run over by a car in Fairfax County.
Police here at the Sully District Station then obtained warrants for Gray's arrest, and Fauquier County sheriff's deputies served them. Gray is charged with abduction and burglary with the intent to commit a felony. Abduction, alone, is punishable by as much as 10 years in prison.