BART police question Liberty Street residents about possible kidnapping early Wednesday morning

When residents of Liberty Street woke up at 7 a.m. on Wednesday, there were five or six BART police cars on their street and BART police officers outside their doors, ready to intercept residents on their way to work.

Police told residents on the block between Valencia and Gurerro that they were investigating a kidnapping case and asked if any of them recognized pictures of two people, a man and a woman, according to W. Blake Gray, a Liberty Street resident. Police did not provide any information about where or when the incident occurred.

A BART spokesman said the case was under investigation but declined to provide further information.

Residents said they were not all shown the same pictures. Some people were shown one picture of a man and one of a woman. Others were shown two pictures of a woman, one with dyed red hair and another with braided hair, taken like a passport photo.

A resident Mission Local spoke with told officers that the image of the woman with red hair looked familiar. The resident said the woman’s hair color was similar to that of a person he saw on Feb. 6 who was involved in a physical altercation with a man on that block of Liberty. The resident said he called police after seeing the altercation, but said he could not be sure if the two women were the same person.

This block of Liberty Street consists mainly of Victorian homes, some multi-family and some single-family. A police officer was stationed at the front door of the four-story modern apartment building on this block, Liberty 65.

According to Gray, police left Liberty around 9 a.m. By that time, a small group of neighbors had gathered in Liberty to discuss what had happened. Only one of them, the resident who had noticed the similar red hair, recognized the people in the photos.

This is a developing story and we will update as we receive more information.