CHICAGO _ Chicago police took a 12-year-old boy into custody Tuesday night after finding him with a handgun in a West Side alley.
Anthony Guglielmi, the top police spokesman, said officers responding to a call of a person with a gun in the Lawndale neighborhood arrived about 8 p.m. to the 1800 block of South Kostner Avenue and found the boy with a weapon.
They located his mother about 30 minutes later, and he was charged as a juvenile with unlawful use of a weapon, he said.
A few days ago, police were alerted about a video on social media showing a group of boys, one of whom pulled out a weapon as he was talking to at least one man in a passing vehicle. Guglielmi said the boy was not the boy in that video and police were still investigating that incident.
The boy arrested Tuesday night told officers he was a gang member, police said.
Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said he was upset when he learned about the age of the suspect with the gun.
"We are failing our children and, as a result, street gangs are taking the place where parents should be," he said in a statement.
