Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 29, 1994                   TAG: 9403290043
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

MAN, 25, CHARGED IN SCHOOLYARD ABDUCTION

James Warren Beane Jr. of the 2600 block of Oakland Boulevard Northwest was being held Monday night without bail in Roanoke City Jail. Police arrested Beane, who matched a description given by the victims, in the 1700 block of Melrose Avenue shortly after the incidents.

Two girls, ages 7 and 9, told police that a man grabbed them and dragged them from the rear of Addison at about 4:35 p.m. According to police, the girls said the man told them he was Jesus and he was taking them to God. The girls broke free and fled.

Several minutes later, a man approached an 11-year-old boy who was playing near 12th Street and Hanover Avenue. He grabbed the boy by the coat, saying he was Jesus. The boy broke free and fled.

In other incidents Sunday:

A 34-year-old man who gave another man a ride was shot by his passenger at Liberty and Williamson Roads around 10:40 p.m., according to police. Gary Wayne Smith, 34, of Tompkins Avenue Southeast was treated at Community Hospital of Roanoke Valley and released.

Smith told police that the passenger pointed a chrome-plated revolver at him and ordered Smith to give up his money. Smith said he pushed the gun away and stepped on the brakes, causing the man to hit his head against the windshield and the gun to discharge.

Smith was hit in the left thigh. The man fled on foot.

A man attempted to rob a clerk at the One Stop Market in the 2200 block of Williamson Road, according to police.

At 9:12 p.m., a man holding a pistol walked into the store and demanded money. As the clerk began to empty the cash drawer, two men pulled up in the parking lot. The would-be thief fled on foot, without the money.