Boys, 7 and 11, attempt robbery with gun

[IDemo]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by muriel_volestrangler (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: USA Today

9:05PM EST December 9. 2012 - PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Two boys, ages 7 and 11, are accused of trying to rob a woman with a loaded gun, police said Sunday.

The 11-year-old boy had a .22 caliber loaded handgun when officers found him Saturday at the parking lot of a church, police said. Detectives were investigating how the boys obtained a gun.

"Officers told the 11-year-old to keep his hands out of his pockets but he ignored the officers and tried putting his hand back in his pocket," Portland police said in a statement. "Officers grabbed his arms and recovered a cocked and loaded .22 caliber handgun in his pocket."

The boys are accused of trying to carjack a 22-year-old woman who was in her family's truck waiting for her parents at the church parking lot. The woman said the boys then demanded cash and her phone, and that the younger boy told the older one to "show her your piece."

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/12/09/boys-robbery-gun/1757653/

[JI7]

1. this could have ended really badly

when the kid refused to keep his hands out of his pocket.

will be interesting to hear about his background and where/how he got the gun

[GliderGuider]

5. Props to the officers on this one.

One time when I could understand an officer being a bit jumpy, everyone kept their cool and nobody wound up dead - or even tased. It looks like good, cool-headed police work.

[love_katz]

2. OMG!

How incredibly sad.

This should maybe be cross-posted to the Oregon page. Yikes.

[RKP5637]

3. Somehow I'm just not surprised. Much as Charles Manson said, you are breeding

monsters and I (Charles Manson) am just one of them.

[Loudly]

4. This is American gun culture writ small.

[trouble.smith]

6. more like an American gangster culture thing.

and of course the police just handed these little delinquents back over to the parents. That's exactly the right thing to do right there, because they have obviously done such an outstanding job raising up their kids so far.

[Tempest]

8. "American gangster" is racist code

And you have no idea what race these two kids are.

[slackmaster]

9. What race is a gangster, Tempest?

I've seen them in all colors including white, and several nationalities here in Southern California.

ETA given that trouble.smith doesn't have any information about the demographics of the perpetrators other than their gender and ages, how could the remark have been made with any kind of racial subtext? Their behavior certainly seems gang-like to me.

[TeeYiYi]

13. Good question. What a leap. Until I read the "racist code" comment...

... I had these two would-be car jackers pegged as white kids with dirty jeans, t-shirts and scruffy hair.

I guess anything is possible but for trouble.smith to imply that they are black or hispanic took me by surprise.

TYY

[PavePusher]

16. Please provide a list of these "code words" for those of us not "in the know", m'kay?

[Eleanors38]

24. Here is a picture of the "racial" type I think is referenced...

[Eleanors38]

22. Ironic you should jump to the conclusion of "race code." I didn't know the race either...

Instead of popping off with the usual get-out-of-jail-free card given some liberals (crying "race&quot , you may wish to consider that "American gangster," "gang culture," and the like are equal-opportunity descriptions for gaining power and legitimacy through violence and mayhem. Plenty of white trash in there, too.

[trouble.smith]

25. did you really just call me a racist?

edit: and are you claiming there isn't a gang culture issue in America?

[PavePusher]

29. So, no list? n/t

[struggle4progress]

15. ... The boys were placed in their family's custody due to their young age, but later that day

the 11-year-old tried to escape his parents' house, police said. Officers later caught him ...

December 10, 2012 10:17 AM
Oregon Boys, ages 7 and 11, accused of attempted armed robbery, police say
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57558194-504083/oregon-boys-ages-7-and-11-accused-of-attempted-armed-robbery-police-say/

[Berserker]

7. Yup I am sure

at 7 and 11 they are part of your so called gun culture. After all they have been around guns for many many years and have learned to love them. They waited for years to learn to talk so they could go car jacking or hold up banks. Is that all you got.

[bunnies]

10. Your argument is completely devoid of common sense.

Clearly one or both of these children has had exposure to gun culture. They didnt come up with the concept of carjacking or robbing people at gunpoint themselves. Whether it was movies, video games, toys, etc. Good luck finding a toy store that doesnt sell them. Hell, boys have playing "cowboys and indians" with guns for generations. The "gun" could have been a stick, a hand, a toy... anything.

So to say that a child of 11 couldnt have already developed a "love" for guns or gun culture is naive at best. Especially if the parents have not instilled in the child that being a "badass" with a gun and threatening peoples lives is not acceptable behavior. Obviously.

The rest of your statement is just, well, asinine.

[Eleanors38]

26. Uh, maybe you missed the sarcasm?

I bet those little punks didn't get their "juice" by receiving instruction from the NRA, the average concealed-carry permittee, the average gun-owner, hunter, shooting enthusiast, or even a "Cowboy Action Shooter." Certainly not from Olympian target shooters.

So what's left? T.V. drama, stupid video games, movies? Maybe even the surroundings of what's left of their community?

[Loudly]

11. America's gun culture is why guns are so abundant that little children can obtain them.

America's gun culture is why forcing your will on others at the point of a gun is so clearly understood as pragmatic by little children.

[Remmah2]

14. Guns responsible, parents not.....

Unless of course the NRA has a spores to children reproduction program Skully.

It's mind control I tell ya.

[Loudly]

30. Parents raised in the same gun culture.

It has a long disgraceful tradition, I'll grant you.

[Eleanors38]

23. ...so knowledgeable they chose a .22. That's what my "gun culture" handbook said to use.

[-..__...]

12. Little thugs are going places in life.

In and out of the legal/prison system if someone doesn't put a boot in their ass and straighten them out.

[Loudly]

31. Hello Kitty shouldering a rifle.

You wear your sickness with such pride.

[struggle4progress]

17. Armed Robbery: Boys Aged 7 And 11 Detained

Posted on Monday 10 December 2012

... Amy Garrett, 22, claimed the pair had threatened her as she waited for her parents in the family's truck in the church car park ...

"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," she recounted to KATU ...

She refused and drove away, calling the police as she went.

Incredibly, as a shaken Ms Garrett told her story to the TV reporter on Sunday, the older boy turned up alongside the camera team ...

http://www.citytalk.fm/news/uk-and-world/20121210-armed-robbery-boys-aged-7-and-11-detained/

[struggle4progress]

18. Portland church parking lot is scene of attempted robbery by 11-year-old armed with pistol

... "They were children," Garrett said on Sunday. "I didn't think they'd actually have a real gun."

Across the street, a mother knew better. She was phoning police after her son ran home to tell her he'd seen the 11-year-old armed. Meanwhile, Garrett said the two boys came around to the driver's side of her pickup, showed her the silver handle of a .22 caliber handgun and continued to curse at her through the rolled-down window. They told her the piece was loaded, and the 7-year-old pulled a box of bullets from his backpack.

"My heart was racing," Garrett said once she realized the firearm was real.

She tried to keep calm, even as the two boys demanded she give them her Ford pickup. She turned on the ignition and pointed to the gas needle, clearly on empty. "You won't get anywhere," she said ...

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2012/12/woman_shaken_after_run_in_with.html

[snooper2]

19. Looks like somebody needs an ass beating...

[lexw]

20. Regarding bad parenting...

My wife and I were walking in Huntington Beach, CA one night around 9pm. We were with our dog and walking in a residential neighborhood. Dark, but some liquor stores and a few cars passing by.

We past a girl who looked to be 16 with her boyfriend (guessing) and a cute little blonde haired kid about 2 (or whenever they start walking well).

After we past, we looked back and the toddler was following us. He was about 100 yards from his mother. We let him pet our dog (which is what attracted him). I then told him to go back to his mom. He frowned, and turned toward a bush and began playing with the leaves. He obviously didn't want to be with mom. I walked him back to his mom and said, "Something was following our dog."

The mom looked over and said, "Oh, he'll follow anyone."

That poor little boy is going to be messed up.

[Carolina]

21. I saw the same thing recently

in a store. Mother was so busy texting, she didn't notice that her toddler had left her side and was intentionally walking away from her. I watched the little boy because I feared he would wander from the store into the greater mall (we were near an exit) and get really lost or worse.

Just as I was about to say something, the mother deigned to look away from her phone and called out to the child who begrudgingly returned to this inattentive woman.

These kinds of moms infuriate me. They should not be reproducing; and I daresay their behavior sometimes leads me to consider the thought that sterilization ain't such a bad idea... I know the PC flamers/alerters will latch onto that but I did say it was a thought.

[Old and In the Way]

27. How do kids of this age and this particular demographic have such easy access to guns?

Seems like that is a fundamental question that really needs to be addressed. I also wonder how many more gun sales will occur as this particular tragedy will surely be amped by the NRA....

[slackmaster]

28. I suspect it's an issue with one specific family rather than any kind of demographic

Whatever their demographics happen to be.

People who own guns are responsible for keeping them out of the hands of unqualified people. I spent almost $3,000 on a sturdy gun safe for my collection. It was a lot of money, but I have peace of mind knowing that a casual burglar won't be able to steal them.

It also came in handy last year when I had a person with major depression living in my house. She was there for four months, and despite rifling through my belongings in search of firearms and dangerous prescription drugs was unable to kill herself in my house or on my watch. I own more than 50 firearms and have multiple medications that could be used for an overdose, but she failed, and I saved myself from the grief of having a person die under my care.

[muriel_volestrangler]

32. Locking - not of national interest

Given that no-one was actually threatened with the gun, this doesn't seem to rise to the level of 'national interest'. There is a thread on it in GC&RKBA, if people was to discuss it: http://www.democraticunderground.com/117291120