‘Stranger danger’ incident in Fort Myers has parents on alert

A couple who tried to lure a boy into their SUV near a school bus stop is still out there.

Last week when the incident happened, the boy, 9 years old, dashed straight home. He gave the Fort Myers Police Dept. a vivid description of the man and woman that tried to offer him candy to get into their SUV.

For Maribel Cook, she repeatedly tells her daughter always to be aware of her surroundings after two men once followed her. When the separate incident happened, her daughter noticed the strangers entering into a vehicle, before they proceeded to follow her.

“It’s just scary because she texted me right at that same moment and said, ‘mom something happened,'” Cook said.

When Cook heard about a man and a woman trying to lure a child into an SUV with candy last week, she was hit with painful memories. The mother is disappointed that these ‘stranger danger’ cases have become so common.

“My fiancé’s daughter is afraid to go to the gas station by herself,” Cook said, “because of everything that is going on.”

Surveillance images of a gray SUV released Wednesday match the description of the SUV connected to an incident last Wednesday near Central Ave and Braman Avenue.

The driver was described as a man with a short beard, shoulder-length dreadlocks, with tattoos on his arms and hands. The passenger was a woman, who had shoulder-length red hair, a camouflage shirt and a distinctive gold tooth.

The article continues below the video.

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