Boys, 11 and 7, suspected in robbery and carjacking attempt
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PORTLAND, Ore. – Police said two boys, ages 11 and 7, tried to rob and carjack a woman at gunpoint in Southeast Portland Saturday afternoon.
"I didn't think it was real," said Amy Garrett. "They were just two really young kids."
The 11-year-old boy had a loaded handgun, police said.
Officers found the boys after someone reported seeing the older child with a loaded handgun near Southeast 160th and Alder Street just after 12 p.m., according to Sgt. Pete Simpson.
When police arrived, the two boys tried to run away.
Officers stopped them near the Freedom Foursquare Church. They told the 11-year-old boy to keep his hands out of his pockets, but he refused, Simpson said. An officer grabbed the boy's arms and found a cocked and loaded handgun in his pocket.
Police were later flagged down by Garrett, 22, who told them the two boys tried to rob her and steal her truck.
Garrett said she was sitting in her truck and waiting for her parents outside the church when the boys approached her and threatened to shoot her if she didn't give them her truck.
"He was showing me his gun and I asked him if it was real," said Garrett. "He said 'you don't ever ask somebody if it's real. That's how you get yourself shot.'"
Garrett said the younger boy told the 11 year old to “show her your piece.” The 11-year-old boy then lifted his shirt and showed Garrett the gun.
"He said it was fully-loaded and cocked and ready to go. He told me he was going to blow my brains out if I didn't give him anything."
When Garrett refused to give the boys her truck, they demanded her wallet and phone and said they would shoot her if she didn’t give them anything.
"My heart was beating a million miles a minute. I'm surprised it didn't completely beat our of my chest. I was very scared," Garrett said.
Garrett drove away and called 911. As she pulled away, Garrett said she saw the 11-year-oldboy pull the gun from his pocket.
The 11 year old lives nearby with his family, Garrett said. He returned to the scene while KATU was interviewing Garrett, but left and did not come back when we asked to speak with his parents.
Garrett, and neighbors who spoke to KATU News said the neighborhood has seen plenty of crime in the past.
"People don't want to come because of all the criminal activity," said Robert Schultz, who attends the church. "It's really disturbing to have these kind of things go on on holy ground."
Simpson said due the boys’ ages, they cannot be taken to the Donald E. Long Juvenile Detention Home. They were both left with their parents.
The boys would be taken to the juvenile detention center and face possible charges if they were 15, Simpson said.
It’s unclear where the 11-year-old boy got the handgun. Robbery detectives are investigating the case.
"Eventually, I want them to be able to come to the church and have some faith," said Garrett. "I want them to have a brighter future because they're not going anywhere bright right now. They're just going down a really bad path."
speechless full face palm and a tear for our society
@censoredirawoody Guns don't kill people, children do.
without question, the parents should be prosecuted!!
Are you fawking kidding me??? Why the fawk weren't the parents arrested??! And they said he returned to the scene, so I take that as his worthless no good parents let this little thug back out on the streets?? Wow!!! Better lock his ass up before he can reproduce!!
@meds215 Probably his parents ilk know the nut job that just shot up that mall earlier today. Should be a good time of year to be a shopper, churchgoer, and police officer. I think I will be like my mother and just quit watching the news.
While I can see that there's a lower age limit for juvenile detention that disqualifies these two, sending them home to their parents (a dubious course given what they've already learned from the lives they lead) makes one glaring point to these two kids: that they were able to threaten someone with death--and with a deadly weapon--and there were absolutely no consequences for doing so. At the very least, CPS should be checking into their home situation. To send the message that they can do this and nothing will happen to them is just about the worst kind of encouragement these two kids could receive.
Returning these two street rats to their parents is a free pass and will only encourage their continuation down the path of self destruction. We will see them in the news again in no time. Where is Child Services??????
The parents should be held accountable and every child over the age of 14 in the family!
Geesh, at the age of 7 I was building a fort in the brush of a friends backyard and at 11 I was playing with nerf guns. These kids have had to learned this behavior by their parents. I think they need to go to the detention center. They are not too young to go to the detention center because there are kids there younger than 15 who have killed people and they don't just let the kids go to their parents when they kill people.
These boys must have great parents! Sadly, they are going to kill someone or themselves.... The "parents" (I use this term lightly) should be charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.Â
Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult. Â I'd bet good money the gun came from one of their homes, and hadn't been stored locked up (One fourth of homes with children and guns have a loaded firearm, and between 6% and 14% of firearm owning households with a child under 18 have an unlocked and loaded firearm). Â This story is also posted here: Â http://kidshootings.blogspot.com/2012/12/two-boys-7-and-11-attempt-armed.html
 @Baldr Odinson I grew up in a house with unlocked and loaded firearms and two unloaded long guns in my own closet (ammo on shelf next to them).  I was also taught responsibility.  I knew I was never to touch any loaded guns in the house without supervision and wasn't allowed to load my own in the house.  Your statistics don't mean too much considering there are households that are probably safer with loaded and unlocked guns than ones that are locked up.  Locks don't teach responsibility or the proper culture.  Unfortunately, there aren't as many background checks in becoming a parent as there are in owning a firearm. Â