MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -
In less than 24 hours, two separate children in a Murfreesboro community said someone tried to lure them away from their friends and family.
Wednesday afternoon, a group of siblings playing outside off Cason Lane told police a man stopped his car in front of their house and asked if they wanted candy or ice cream.
Thursday morning, a seven-year-old girl told a teacher at Cason Lane Academy a strange man approached her outside and asked her to leave with him.
In both cases, police told Nashville's News 2 the children ran away.
"It was just pretty scary to me," said the seven-year-old, whose mother asked that she not be identified.
The girl said, "He asked me if I wanted a ride home and I said, ‘No,' and I slapped him on the arm real hard, and it stung my hand, and I ran into the building."
"I am so proud of her," said Jana Sawyer, the child's mother. "I can't believe it, she's so tiny, and she hit him and ran."
When Sawyer's daughter came home from school Thursday and told her what happened, Sawyer told Nashville's News 2 she was horrified.
"It's every parent's worst nightmare," she added. "If somebody is that bold to walk up to a school to try to take a child, mine or anyone else's, that's brazen, and he needs to be stopped."
Murfreesboro police told Nashville's News 2 after what happened, they are dispatching more marked and unmarked cars to the Cason Lane area, but also said there's not nearly enough information in this latest incident to connect both children's stories.
According to police, no one else at the school witnessed the incident and the only description of the suspect the child was able to give police is a man wearing a hooded sweatshirt.
Still, Sawyer believes her daughter is telling the truth about what happened.
"Kids do tell tales, but not on this. She knows this is too important to tell a tale," said Sawyer. "I don't think kids translate things the way adults do, so they don't necessarily realize something is as serious as an adult would take it."
"I'm very glad she's safe and okay," she added.
Murfreesboro police described the man seen Wednesday around Cason Lane as a white male in his late 20s or early 30s with reddish blonde hair and a buzz cut, last seen driving a Pontiac with tinted windows.
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