Police: Man tried to lure 12-year-old girl in Gage Park

Police are searching for a man who tried to lure a 12-year-old girl on her way from school in the Gage Park neighborhood on the Southwest Side.

About 3:25 p.m., the girl was on her way from Morrill Elementary School, 6011 S. Rockwell, to a former neighbor’s house in the 5800 block of South Artesian when the man approached her on the sidewalk, according to Chicago Police.

The man called the girl cute and asked if she wanted to go to the store and buy something, police said. She walked past him and continued to her neighbor’s house, where she knocked on the door for several minutes, but no one was home.

The girl was standing on the porch when she saw the same man standing nearby on the corner of 58th Street and Artesian, watching her, police said. He then ran away in an unknown direction.

The suspect was described as a 5-foot-10 black man in his early 20s with a skinny build, police said. He was wearing a gray T-shirt, black jeans and white shoes with a colored stripe on them.

Anyone with information on the incident should contact Area Central detectives at (312) 747-8380.

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