The killer who offers to help change flat tires at malls-Fiction!

The Suspicious Man At the Mall Who Helped Change a Flat Tire And Left His Killing Tools Behind-Fiction!

Summary of eRumor:
A woman recounts the story of being helped with a flat tire by a man in the parking lot of a shopping mall. He then asks for a ride to his car elsewhere in the mall. Suspicious, the woman makes an excuse to go back into the mall where she alerts a security guard and, later, the police. She discovers that the air had been intentionally let out of her tire and the man, who had been carrying a briefcase, accidentally left in the trunk of her car after changing the tire. Police open the locked case and find rope, duct tape, and knives in it. The eRumor makes an impassioned plea to women to be careful.

The Truth:
It pays to be cautious, and that is the theme of this eRumor, but there has not been a documented case of this particular scenario with the killer leaving behind his killing tools.

This is an oft-repeated story, which has been told regarding various cities, mostly in the United States and Canada, and which urban legends expert Jan Harold Brunvand classes as just that, an urban legend.

A real example of the story as it has been circulated:

About a month ago there was a woman standing by the mall entrance
passing out flyers to all the women going in. The woman had written the flyer herself to tell about an experience she had, so that she might
warn other women.

The previous day, this woman had finished shopping, went out to her car and discovered that she had a flat. She got the jack out of the trunk and began to change the flat.

A nice man dressed in business suit and carrying a briefcase walked up to her and said, "I noticed you're changing a flat tire. Would you like me to take care of it for you?" The woman was grateful for his offer and accepted his help.

They chatted! ! amiably while the man changed the flat, and then put the flat tire and the jack in the trunk, shut it and dusted his hands off. The woman thanked him profusely, and as she was about to get in her car, the man told her that he left his car around on the other side of the mall, and asked if she would mind giving him a lift to his car. She was a little surprised and she asked him why his car was on other side. He explained that he had seen an old friend in the mall that he hadn't seen for some time and they had a bite to eat and visited for a while; he got
turned around in the mall and left through the wrong exit, and now he
was running late and his car was clear around on the other side of the
mall.

The woman hated to tell him "no" because he had just rescued her from having to change her flat tire all by hers! ! elf, but she felt uneasy.
Then she remembered seeing the man put his briefcase in her trunk before shutting it and before he asked her for a ride to his car. She told him that she'd be happy to drive him around to his car, but she just
remembered one last thing she needed to buy. She said she would only be a few minutes he could sit down in her car and wait for her; she would be as quick as she could be. She hurried into the mall, and told a security guard what had happened; the guard came out to her car with her, but the man had left. They opened the trunk, took out his locked briefcase and took it down to the police station. The police opened it (ostensibly to look for ID so they could return it to the man). What they found was rope, duct tape, and knives. When the police checked her"flat" tire, there was nothing wrong with it; ! ! the air had simply been let out. It was obvious what the man's intention was, and obvious that he had carefully thought it out in advance. The woman was blessed to have escaped harm.

How much worse it would have been if she had children with her and had them wait in the car while the man fixed the tire, or if she had a baby strapped into a car seat. Or if she'd gone against her jud gment and given him a lift.

Please forward this to all the women you know. It may save a life. A
candle is not dimmed by lighting another candle. I was going to send
this to women only; but guys, if you love your mothers, wives, sisters,
daughters, etc., please pass it on to them, as well.

Send this to any woman you know that may need to be reminded that the world we live in has a lot of crazies in it...

PLEASE BE SAFE AND NOT SORR! ! Y! JUST A WARNING TO ALWAYS BE ALERT AND
USE YOUR ! HEAD!!!

Pass this along to every woman you haveaccess to. Never let your guard down.

SOMETIMES, THAT FEELING IN YOUR GUT IS THE VOICE OF GOD.

TRUST YOUR
INSTINCTS!!