TUNICA COUNTY, Miss. — The Tunica County Sheriff’s Office needs your help finding two men they say two men tried to lure a 5-year-old girl into their van by offering her candy and puppies.

That little girl’s mother is hugging her daughter tightly, thankful her daughter ran to safety.

“If I would have lost my baby, I would have been hurt. Depressed. I probably would have been in the hospital right now,” said the mother, who didn’t want to be identified.

The sheriff’s office says they responded to a home in Dundee, Mississippi just after six Wednesday night, after getting a call about an attempted kidnapping.

The mother tells us her daughter was out in the yard when the van pulled up on the road alongside their home.

“My baby says she was outside playing and the van pulled up,” the mother said. “Two guys were telling her they had candy and puppies.”

Deputies are looking for a white van — perhaps a Chevy or Ford with tinted windows and black stripes down the sides.

They say the driver and passenger were wearing masks when they tried to lure the little girl inside. They were last seen driving north on Old Highway 61.

“She took off running to the house, to my grandma, and my son says he was coming out the door and he seen the truck driving out,” the mother said.

She says she’s proud of her daughter for knowing the right thing to do.

“I’m very proud of her. I always tell them don’t talk to strangers. So she did the right thing by running in the house,” she said.

Until these men are caught, she urges parents to be extra vigilant. And to the suspects, she says, “I want them to know that they need to leave people’s kids alone and find another hobby.”

Anyone with information is asked to call the Tunica County Sheriff’s Office at 662-363-1411.