Cops: Stranger tried to lure girl, 5, with candy in Jefferson Park

A man tried to lure a 5-year-old girl to him with candy on a Jefferson Park neighborhood street Friday afternoon on the Northwest Side, police said.

The man was walking a white dog about 3:30 p.m. when he went up to the girl in the 4400 block of North Laporte, touched her shoulder, asked if she wanted candy and suggested she go with him, according to a community alert from 16th District police.

The man took off when the girl called for her brother, police said. She got home safely, and her grandmother called police.

The stranger was described as a white man in his 50s with gray hair, wearing eyeglasses and a gray T-shirt.

Anyone with information should call police at (312) 744-8200.