Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Right now, Rochester Police are only investigating it as a missing persons report, but the Somali community is worried the problem is far greater than that.
Family members say the two girls went to Mayo High School last Thursday, and haven't been seen since.
"It's my understanding that they are friends," said Captain Brian Winters of the Rochester Police Department.
But other than that, law enforcement is staying tight lipped.
"We cannot talk about the welfare of these children in an open environment with news media present. They are even at potentially more risk when we do that," said Capt. Winters.
Investigators say the initial statements given to police don't suggest a kidnapping, but they will continue to investigate the case.
"If there is information that the Somali community is aware of, that is new information, or places these juveniles at higher risk, other than just running away and not wanting to be at home, that needs to be reported," said Capt. Winters.
The underlying concern here, are the kidnappings of Somalis across the country, either for the war in Somalia, or for sex trafficking.
"This is a tragedy, because it happened last year and it's coming back again and again. So we need to do something. We need to deal with this seriously," said Abdullah "Sharif" Hared, the Director of the Somali Community Resettlement Service in Rochester.
Which is why Hared called this meeting. To prevent what has happened in the past, from happening here.
"What happened to Minneapolis will happen here, so the Somali community in Minneapolis and Rochester will have connections," he said.
The Somali community says one of the things holding them back from being open with police, are the threats they're getting from other community members to stay quiet.
Source: ABC6News