Police: Report of Southwest Side child luring unfounded

Police have canceled a community alert after a teenage girl who reported that two men wearing masks tried to lure her into a minivan as she walked home from school last week on the Southwest Side realized the men were her friends pulling a prank.

According to a community alert issued Thursday by Chicago Police, the light blue Dodge minivan pulled up to the girl about 2:45 p.m. Sept. 13 in the 6400 block of West 62nd Street, and a man in the passenger seat yelled “Come here!”

One was wearing a black bandana over his face, the other a tan Halloween mask inspired by the horror movie “The Purge,” police said. The van followed the girl as she ran home, and then took off.

Investigators discovered that the victim and the two masked men are friends, police said.

The teenage girl and the two individuals often travel home from school together and were attempting to call the victim over to offer her a ride home, police said. They thought it would be humorous to wear the masks.