Police: Woman tried to lure child in Dunn

DUNN, N.C.

Police said she approached a little boy and told him she had candy inside her car.

"This really upset me and my husband," said Shikita McLeod.

It's one of every mother's worst fears. Someone tried to snatch McLeod's eight-year-old son.

"To know that this could happen, in broad daylight," said McLeod. "People want to pick up your child and keep moving and you never know, never hear from them again."

Police said the incident happened around 7:45 a.m. Thursday on Johnson Street. Jonathan McLeod was in his grandparents front yard waiting on his mom to pick him up, when he said a lady drove up, and offered him candy to get in her car.

Jonathan refused and ran inside and told his grandparents.

"This is real scary," said Interim Dunn Police Chief Capt. Jimmy Pope. "This is something that just doesn't happen here."

Pope said the woman drove a black Jeep Liberty with a covered spare tire on the rear. He warned other parents to be on guard.

"You can't take your eyes off your child," said Pope. "In a flash, they can be gone, and like these parents obviously did, they talked to the young man about the dangers of talking to strangers and it sunk in."

That's what saved this day for a little boy, and his family.

"We have talked with him from day one, 'Do not talk to strangers that you don't know,'" said McLeod. "Let them know that if it's a person you don't know, let your mommy and daddy know."

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