According to reader-commenters, the story below initially did not mention the robber’s race, but give the Washington Times editor credit, who added that essential fact to the story’s lede.
By Matthew Cella
The Washington Times
Sunday, September 16, 2012
D.C. police put out a lookout Sunday night for an unusual robbery suspect: a black male roughly 6 or 7 years old.
Police issued the alert at about 8:10 p.m., asking the public to look out for a suspect that was about 4 feet tall and weighed around 100 pounds.
In a news release issued about two hours later, a spokeswoman said police were investigating a report that a group of boys between the ages of 7 and 14 approached a customer at a McDonald's in the 4300 block of Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue in Northeast at approximately 6:30 p.m.
“At some point, the customer took out his phone to contact police and one of the young males snatched his cell phone and fled,” the release said.
The alert describes the boy involved in the robbery as wearing a white shirt and black shorts. It warns the public not to take action but to call 911 if the boy is spotted.
If the 7-year old was in a group of boys from 7 top 14 in age, then this group probably did go out with intent to rob, but they wanted the young ones of the bunch to do it because 14-yos are often charged as adults for armed robbery.
ReplyDeleteI read years ago that black gangs in Los Angeles would use juveniles for crimes because the charge would be less if they were caught.
ReplyDeleteDavid In TN