LAPEER CITY -- Local police want you on the look out for a man trying to pick up kids by offering them candy.
A recent incident could have turned tragic if the people involved didn't know what to do.
"Scary, there's a lot of little kids around here. That's scary," says Janet Knox, a grandmother who lives across the street from where one of the incidents happened.
Around 6:00 Wednesday night a 10-year-old was leaving the Rite Aid on Main Street and Genesee in Lapeer.
A man in a tan pickup truck approached him telling him he had candy for him and to come near him.
"The young boy had stated he tried to ignore the individual in the truck, which was good," says Det. Sgt. Craig Gormley of the Lapeer Police department.
After going home the boy then walked to Big Lots and the same man in the pickup came up from behind saying he had candy for him.
The boy did not answer and the man drove away.
A neighbor saw this, talked to the boy, and he told her what happened.
"I would have jumped on him if I'd have seen it. I wouldn't probably gotten his licence late. I would have probably just tracked him down because you don't do that to kids," says Knox.
The neighbor called police who came up with a composite sketch of the suspect and is asking for the public's help.
"It's very difficult for our police to watch everything and when you have a community of thousands then it makes our job easier to get information," says Gormley.
Another tip police gave NBC25 is to walk in groups no matter how old you are and let other people know where you are and when you will be back so if you aren't there they can take action.
"It's scary. I have four small kids that play outside all the time. Lapeer isn't the place it use to be," says Christy Gubanche, who lives near where the incident happened.
