Child Steals Mom's Gun, Holds Up Grocery Store
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WEST PALM BEACH (CBSMiami) -- An attempted robbery at a West Palm Beach grocery store but with a very unlikely suspect. Police have an 8-year-old-boy in custody after he stole his mother's gun and tried to rob a store with it.
"He say he wanted to go to the park. I told him go ahead. He gave me a hug," said Eboni Alls, the boy's mother.
Eboni Alls would later learn that her son was up to no good.
Wednesday night,- Alls says her 8-year old boy rode his bicycle to the King Foods grocery store on 36th Street in West Palm Beach.
In surveillance video from inside the store, he enters wearing a bike helmet and baggy clothes. But what you don't see is the loaded handgun he's concealing. He walks inside and around the front of the store for about a minute. He then heads towards the checkout counter and approaches the cashier.
"I see the boy take the gun. He says give me the money," explained employee Robert Espinal. "At the moment I didn't know if it was a real gun or fake but I took it seriously."
Several employees saw the commotion and reacted quickly.
"As soon as I moved I reached over to him, twisted his wrist, took the gun away"
An employee attempted to take the child to the office but he tried to get away.
The store manager called police.
The boy's mother was at home when she realized something was wrong.
"When I grabbed my purse, it was so light. I'm like I knew I was missing something. I said where's my gun? The first thing I thought was I hope Jaden don't have my gun," said Alls.
But he did.
Police took the child into custody.
Investigators say he's getting a mental evaluation after he made comments about hurting himself.
When asked if there was anything she would have done differently, Alls replied, "Yes, I would have had the gun locked up in a safe somewhere."
Neither the boy nor his mother have been charged with a crime.
