Siblings David Byrne, 12, and Juliette Byrne, 11, had cleared around $50 by 4:45 p.m. on Wednesday and were keeping the cash in a bright pink lockbox. The pair was approached by two male teenagers who, according to the police, said they had no money and asked about Apple Pay before stealing the lockbox from the children and flashing a gun.
Boston Herald reports the children described the suspects as a "dark-skinned black male about 14-years-old" and a "light-skinned black male about 11 years-old." The older teen was the one carrying the gun.
WBZ News, a local Boston CBS station, caught up with the kids.
“He walked over here. He said, ‘I might need to take the box,’ and he grabbed it with one hand, and then he showed us the gun, which was right here,” David said.
Surveillance cameras caught the two teens, and Boston Police Department said they passed the stand several times before approaching. According to Fox News, a 14-year-old suspected has been arrested in connection to the robbery, while the other is still on the loose.
“My sister, she put her hands up, and I just said you could have it. But after that I just was like a little annoyed because we were 12 and 11, and you shouldn't really do that,” David said.
With the community outraged, they are determined to “take back their street.” David and his friends put up another lemonade stand the next day in the same corner, and 50% of the money raised will be donated to a local gun-violence prevention group.
Brian Camenker of Mass Resistance says that neighborhood used to be safe when he was growing up there.
“South Boston was a very tight Irish Catholic community, and crimes didn't really happen as much because people knew what was going on,” Camenker states.
Soft-on-crime prosecutors and a community that is told over and over again that they are victims of white racism, he says, is a dangerous mix.
“The progressives here allow black crime to happen purposefully, and as a result, more of it happens,” Camenker states.
