A Winnipeg mother says she had to play tug of war to get her daughter back from a man who tried to snatch the four-year-old from her front step Thursday afternoon.

"She's crying," said Faida Bugagara, the mother of four-year-old Princess, explaining to CBC how the attempted abduction unfolded outside her home in the 300 block of McKenzie Street.

"He's a big man, I am scared of him," said Bugagara, adding the man grabbed her daughter by the leg.

Bugagara is a newcomer to Winnipeg who moved to the city from Congo with her family three years ago.

Man tried to enter home

Bugagara said the man showed up at her front doorstep out of the blue and was trying to enter her home before he tried to take Princess.

"He telling me, 'What are you doing? Open the door to go in,'" she recalled.

"He said, 'I need to go in door with you.' … I scared now."

Bugagara was able to get Princess away from the man and ran to a neighbour's house, who called police.

In the process, though, Bugagara said the neighbour's dog bit her and she now has a large bandage on her hand covering the wound.

'Incredibly brazen'

Winnipeg police Const. Rob Carver told reporters Friday morning the incident is "terrifying" and unusual.

Winnipeg police are warning the public after an attempted child abduction, which they say happened in broad daylight Thursday. 0:44 "I've been doing this a long time and I cannot remember myself the last time I've heard of one of these," he said.

Carver called the incident "incredibly brazen," and said police are looking for a male suspect in his late 20s. He is described as having short dark hair and a slim build and wearing diamond-type earrings.

According to witnesses, he was wearing a grey Adidas hat, a purple or blue Hugo Boss shirt, a black track jacket tied around his waist, black pants with two red stripes down the sides of the legs and red shoes with a white Nike symbol, Carver said.

The Winnipeg police major crimes unit is investigating the incident.