星岛日报记者陈之罡华盛顿报道／维珍尼亚大学两名中国留学生因涉嫌绑架被捕，案件在该校中国学生中引起震动。据与涉案人熟识的中国学生形容，两人性格开朗，为人友善，而且家庭条件良好，两人究竟因何原因闯下大祸，让人不得其解。目前就读南部名校维珍尼亚大学工程学专业的二年级学生吕冠宇和舒百川，於21
日也即感恩节早晨在华盛顿郊区的维珍尼亚州斐尔法克斯县被捕。两人当时在一家汽车旅馆，被绑架的人质则被以胶带封口关在浴缸内。
警方公布的案情显示，人质在20日晚接到一个朋友的电话，要求帮助修理汽车，随后，人质驱车至泰森斯角（Tysons
Corner）地区，在遭头戴面罩的两名嫌疑人绑架，并被放入汽车后厢带到旅馆。之后，人质致电他居住的人家，要求支付50万美元赎金。
警方在接获报警后，通过来电信息追踪到人质所在地段，入室将人质救出送往医院。人质现年20岁，同样来自中国，曾经在加州读书。目前人质身体无大碍。警方接受本报查询时透露，两名嫌疑人目前被关押在该县监狱，而警方正在继续调查，不能公布更多信息。警方称，根据司法程序，在调查完成后，将由检方将案件提交法院，法院则将由一个大陪审团决定是否可予保释以及进入审讯。
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涉嫌绑架的舒百川（左）与吕冠宇（右）。（来源：Daily Progress）
两名嫌疑人目前都只有19岁，於去年秋天入读维珍尼亚大学。其中，吕冠宇来自河南开封，之前就读当地知名中学开封高中，舒百川则来自上海，之前同样就读当地知名中学上海外国语学校。
熟识两名嫌疑人的中国同学向本报透露说，两人平时与同学关系良好，热心友善，性格活泼。其中，吕冠宇看起来有些叛逆，而舒百川性情较温和，不过，「两人看起来都不是行为怪异的人」。而且，两人看起来家境良好，「不缺钱花」，因此，事件让中国同学感觉震惊。从记者获得的校园社交网站Facebook的资料，不少同学在嫌疑人的网页上留言，查询下落，并且表示不解。另据记者在网上搜索所得，舒百川去年在高考期间，曾经发起爱心行动，为其他同学加油打气，当地媒体曾经对此作出报道加以赞扬。
此外，消息来源透露说，被绑架的人质虽然不是该校学生，但是经常前往该校，似乎是有友人在该校就读，不过，人质去该校找的友人应该不是两位嫌疑人，但是人质与嫌疑人应该彼此认识。
维珍尼亚大学是美国知名高校，在公立大学中尤为知名，曾经在有关期刊的排名中名列第一。据悉，在该校入读本科的中国学生近年来增长很快，目前就读三、四年级的中国留学生有十几人，但是，二年级学生增加到三十多人，一年级学生有五十多人。
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.
