74-year old mother of baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. kidnapped at gunpoint

This is beyond SCARY! The 74-year-old mother of former Baltimore Orioles player Cal Ripken Jr. was kidnapped at gun point on Tuesday morning and found early this morning in Baltimore.

Violet Roberta Ripken was approached by a man at her home, who displayed a gun and forced her into her vehicle Tuesday morning. The gunman tied her hands and put a blindfold on her, but said he wouldn’t hurt her.

”He lit cigarettes for her, they stopped for food,” He told Violet Ripkin, “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m going to take you back,’ and that’s what he did.”

The gunman originally planned to put tape over her eyes but didn’t because she said ‘please don’t do that ’cause I’m claustrophobic,’

Aberdeen police say they got a call from the Baltimore County Police Tuesday night, concerning a suspicious vehicle in the Ebenezer Road area of the county. Violet Ripken was found unharmed in her vehicle at 6:15 a.m. Wednesday. She was not injured.

Police are currently looking for leads. The suspect is a white male in his late 30’s to early 40’s and was last seen wearing a light colored shirt, camo pants and glasses.

The Ripken family has released a statement:

“As you now know, our mother was abducted at gunpoint from her home yesterday morning. This has been a very trying time for our family, but we are grateful and relieved that mom is back with us, safe and healthy. We want to thank everyone for their tremendous support, especially all of the law enforcement agencies that worked so hard and quickly. This is an on ongoing investigation, so we hope everyone understands that we cannot comment further at this time. Thank you.”

– Cal, Bill, Elly and Fred Ripken

I hope they catch the guy that did this. Prayers out to the Ripken family.