Police search for man accused of luring boy

Colorado Springs Police are looking for a man who may have been trying to lure a 9-year-old boy Friday afternoon.

Police said the child was walking in the parking lot of The Classical Academy school at 975 Stout Road when a man in a truck asked him to help find a lost puppy.

The boy said the middle-aged man was sitting in a brown, rusty, full-sized truck, possibly a Ford. The man never exited the truck or approached the child. The incident happened around 12:45 p.m.

“Any time an adult approaches someone else’s child and asks things that are, to us, kind of key questions, like, ‘Help me find something, help me look for my puppy, or I got told to give you a ride home,’ that alerts us,” said Colorado Springs Police Lt. Catherine Buckley.

Police said the child walked away from the man and told his mother who was waiting in the parking lot for him. The mother took the boy home and called police to report the incident.

Police agreed that parents and officers are on high alert after the abduction and murder of 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway in Westminster. Buckley said there’s no such thing as being overly cautious.

“In Colorado right now, there is a heightened sense of that, and it’s very important that we maintain that vigilance even months down the road,” Buckley said.

Students at TCA said the school notified them and their parents right away after the incident.

“They made sure there were more teachers and security (after school) to make sure there were no issues,” said high school student Alyssa Anderson.

Anderson said, after the Jessica Ridgeway tragedy, stranger danger is something that’s on students’ minds.

“I think parents and teachers are definitely making us more aware too,” she said. “And letting us know what to do. That little boy knew exactly what to do.”

Officers are hoping that someone can identify the truck in the attached photograph. Police say that this truck may NOT be the truck in question, but they would like to identify the owner. If you have any information, call police at 719-444-7000.