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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 16, 1995                   TAG: 9508160108
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

POLICE SEEK WOMAN, HER ARMED ABDUCTOR

The abduction occurred at gunpoint at Hunting Hills Plaza earlier in the day.

Authorities mobilized near a mobile home park in Franklin County around 10 p.m. to arrest a suspect, according to Roanoke Lt. W.J. Beason Jr. Police would not release the name of the man Tuesday night because he had not been arrested. They identified the missing woman as Sheree Hairston, 19.

The search for the suspect and the woman began at 3 p.m. in Roanoke. After a man fired several shots at Hair Trends Inc. on Franklin Road, he kidnapped Hairston, fleeing in a waiting car driven by a second man.

Hairston is an assistant hairdresser at the salon in Southwest Roanoke, according to Sandra Simmons, an owner of the shop.

Simmons said a man walked into the salon asking to speak with Hairston. The two talked inside for a while, then talked outside for about 15 minutes. Several worried employees tried to get Hairston back inside the salon, but she continued to speak with the man.

When an employee grabbed Hairston's arm to bring her inside, the man pulled a gun, pointed it inside the salon and fired, Simmons said.

``At that point, everybody backed up,'' and one of the employees called 911, Simmons said.

The man dragged Hairston on the sidewalk, fired two more shots and fled in the waiting car - an older blue model. The car was seen traveling north on Franklin Road.