Las Cruces police searching for men who tried to lure young girl

Las Cruces police are searching for two suspicious men who may have tried to lure a little girl into their car.

Police said a girl was walking from University Hills Elementary School on Tuesday afternoon. The girl said she saw a car stopped nearby with two men inside. She was lucky enough to get away without anything happening.

“It was in broad daylight, so it is a little scary to hear that. I’m glad that nothing happened,” said one concerned parent.

“It really concerns me. It just kind of lets you know that there are predators out there,” said Nathel Flores, another Las Cruces parent.

Police said the girl told them one of the men in the car looked like he was taking pictures of her with his cell phone.

The girl did the right thing by walking away and telling her parents.

“At schools, what we’re trying to do is reinforce the message that hopefully mom and dad have given them: that you’re not accepting rides, that you’re going to report something when you see something that makes you uncomfortable or scared and that you should walk with a buddy,” said Jo Galvan, spokeswoman for Las Cruces Public Schools.

Galvan said it’s important for parents to teach kids what to do in these situations.

“When I was a child I walked home by myself and we played outside all day long and didn’t have to worry about stuff like that, but now you can’t and it’s sad,” Flores said.

She does not let her kids walk home from school.

“I really don’t trust any neighborhood anymore. I’m very cautious with my kids because I feel like you can’t really be too careful with them,” Flores told ABC-7.

If you or your kids have a smartphone, you can use it to report suspicious activity to Crime Stoppers. You can log on tohttp://lcps.k12.nm.us/and find the page for your child’s school. At the bottom of that page, there’s information with a number to text suspicious activity to.

Las Cruces Crime Stoppers is offering up to $1,000 for information on the suspicious men. Police said the car was a small black four-door. The driver was wearing a dark-colored hoodie and the passenger was wearing a blue shirt.