Syracuse (WSYR-TV) -- Syracuse Police say a suspicious incident in which a woman was placed inside the trunk of a car in a Price Chopper parking lot was in fact a hoax.
The incident, which was reported on Monday, July 23, was all caught on tape in the Price Chopper parking lot, located on Erie Boulevard.
Police say a 17-year-old male and two female juveniles came forward Tuesday night, reporting they were the individuals who committed the hoax. They also told police the hoax was based on something they saw on TV.
Syracuse Police spokesperson Sergeant Tom Connellan told NewsChannel 9, "This is the type of incident we don’t take lightly. Especially if this had been something that had truly happened, so again, we implore people don’t do stupid things like this, because this really did cause us to have to put a lot of manpower, a lot of hours of investigation and pull people off of investigations that are truly important.”
Additionally, Connellan believes the manpower diverted to the abduction investigation left officers on another case shorthanded. He believes officers would have apprehended suspects in a series of tire and rim thefts from vehicles around the county. Instead, Connellan says one
detective was injured and forced to fire his gun at the suspects as they tried to run him down while fleeing a car dealership in Cicero Tuesday morning.The suspects are not being identified at this time, as charges are pending in the case.
An investigation continues.
Furthermore, the witnesses whose photos were released earlier today have been identified.
