星島日報記者陳之罡華盛頓報道／維珍尼亞大學兩名中國留學生因涉嫌綁架被捕，案件在該校中國學生中引起震動。據與涉案人熟識的中國學生形容，兩人性格開朗，為人友善，而且家庭條件良好，兩人究竟因何原因闖下大禍，讓人不得其解。目前就讀南部名校維珍尼亞大學工程學專業的二年級學生呂冠宇和舒百川，於21
日也即感恩節早晨在華盛頓郊區的維珍尼亞州斐爾法克斯縣被捕。兩人當時在一家汽車旅館，被綁架的人質則被以膠帶封口關在浴缸內。
警方公布的案情顯示，人質在20日晚接到一個朋友的電話，要求幫助修理汽車，隨後，人質驅車至泰森斯角（Tysons
Corner）地區，在遭頭戴麵罩的兩名嫌疑人綁架，並被放入汽車後廂帶到旅館。之後，人質致電他居住的人家，要求支付50萬美元贖金。
警方在接獲報警後，通過來電信息追蹤到人質所在地段，入室將人質救出送往醫院。人質現年20歲，同樣來自中國，曾經在加州讀書。目前人質身體無大礙。警方接受本報查詢時透露，兩名嫌疑人目前被關押在該縣監獄，而警方正在繼續調查，不能公布更多信息。警方稱，根據司法程序，在調查完成後，將由檢方將案件提交法院，法院則將由一個大陪審團決定是否可予保釋以及進入審訊。
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涉嫌綁架的舒百川（左）與呂冠宇（右）。（來源：Daily Progress）
兩名嫌疑人目前都隻有19歲，於去年秋天入讀維珍尼亞大學。其中，呂冠宇來自河南開封，之前就讀當地知名中學開封高中，舒百川則來自上海，之前同樣就讀當地知名中學上海外國語學校。
熟識兩名嫌疑人的中國同學向本報透露說，兩人平時與同學關係良好，熱心友善，性格活潑。其中，呂冠宇看起來有些叛逆，而舒百川性情較溫和，不過，「兩人看起來都不是行為怪異的人」。而且，兩人看起來家境良好，「不缺錢花」，因此，事件讓中國同學感覺震驚。從記者獲得的校園社交網站Facebook的資料，不少同學在嫌疑人的網頁上留言，查詢下落，並且表示不解。另據記者在網上搜索所得，舒百川去年在高考期間，曾經發起愛心行動，為其他同學加油打氣，當地媒體曾經對此作出報道加以讚揚。
此外，消息來源透露說，被綁架的人質雖然不是該校學生，但是經常前往該校，似乎是有友人在該校就讀，不過，人質去該校找的友人應該不是兩位嫌疑人，但是人質與嫌疑人應該彼此認識。
維珍尼亞大學是美國知名高校，在公立大學中尤為知名，曾經在有關期刊的排名中名列第一。據悉，在該校入讀本科的中國學生近年來增長很快，目前就讀三、四年級的中國留學生有十幾人，但是，二年級學生增加到三十多人，一年級學生有五十多人。
Two U.Va. students charged with abducting a man
Classmates: Two abduction suspects left school quickly
By ROB SEAL
Media General News Service
CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Guan Yu Lu and Bai Chuan Shu left town together in a hurry last week, according to fellow University of Virginia students.
"Guan didn't even pack his clothes," a classmate recalled yesterday.
The two second-year engineering students were arrested Nov. 21 at a Falls Church hotel and charged with abducting a 20-year-old Chinese man found bound and gagged in a hotel bathroom, according to Fairfax County police. They have been in jail since.
News of the arrests and the alleged kidnapping shocked friends and classmates of the two men, including two engineering students who said they've known Lu and Shu since the two arrived at school from China. They are in the United States on student visas.
The classmates, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described Lu and Shu as normal 19-year-old college students who earned good grades.
U.Va. officials are taking the charges seriously, according to school spokeswoman Carol Wood. "We . . . have already taken the appropriate internal steps to address this current situation," she wrote in an e-mail yesterday.
The victim's ordeal began Nov. 20 after someone called him and asked for help with car trouble, said Don Gotthardt, a spokesman for the Fairfax County Police Department.
Assailants abducted the man near the Tysons Corner mall when he went to help, Gotthardt said. "They were masked and there was a knife and at least an implication of a gun."
The next day, a McLean resident reported that a friend who lived with him had been abducted, according to court documents.
"The complainant received several telephone calls on Nov. 20 from an unidentified Asian male asking for $500,000 or the victim would be killed," a Fairfax County detective wrote in a search warrant affidavit.
The caller, who spoke Chinese and was using the victim's cell phone, said he would blow up the man's house if he contacted police, according to the document. Police traced the calls to the Stratford Motor Lodge. Later that day, investigators spotted two Asian men entering room 27 and determined they'd registered at the hotel using a Charlottesville address.
"This same address is the address of a known associate of the victim," a detective wrote in the search warrant affidavit.
Authorities arrested Shu and Lu after finding the missing man in the bathtub bound and gagged, according to the search warrant.
Authorities seized more than 60 items from the room and from the car Lu and Shu were driving, including ski masks, guns and a knife.
Tysons Corner mall surveillance footage also shows two Asian men purchasing $1,290.44 worth of clothes Nov. 21 using the victim's credit card.
After his rescue, the victim was treated for mild dehydration at a Northern Virginia hospital and was released. Police did not identify him other than to say he is a student.
On Monday, a judge denied bond for Shu and Lu, who are scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on Jan. 9.
Rob Seal is a staff writer at The Daily Progress in Charlottesville.
