FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ He's only 14, but he was part of a baby-faced trio accused of pointing a gun at an 81-year-old woman and stealing her car at a Walmart store in Lauderdale Lakes, the Broward Sheriff's Office said Monday.
The boy's mother turned him into police on Jan. 18, after details of the carjacking were released, the arrest report shows. The teen was arrested Friday but his friends were still at large, the Sheriff's Office said.
"It appears to be the first time of him getting into this sort of trouble. We will address the charges against him as the facts develop in this case," said Chief Assistant Public Defender Gordon Weekes on Monday, whose office is representing the boy.
The teen, who attends high school and is just 4 feet, 10 inches tall, was arrested on a charge of robbery, carjacking with a firearm or weapon. He is being held at a juvenile detention center until Feb. 5, Weekes said.
Because the boys are minors, the Sun Sentinel is not publishing their photographs or releasing the name of the arrested teen. He confessed to his involvement in the carjacking, the arrest report said.
On the afternoon of Jan. 15, Albina Curik, 81, and three boys walked into a Walmart at the same time, surveillance video showed. When Curik walked in the parking lot to her car, the boys surrounded her.
One of them pointed a gun at her and demanded her keys, according to the Sheriff's Office.
Curik said she at first thought the hold-up was a joke and when she asked the armed boy to repeat his demand, he snatched her keys.
The trio then jumped into Curik's light brown Toyota Corolla sedan and left so abruptly they nearly struck her, said Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Gina Carter. The stolen Toyota was found shortly after the robbery, about two miles from the store, Curik said.
The Sheriff's Office has not yet said what the motive may have been for the carjacking.
Each boy appeared on Walmart store video wearing a dark blue knit cap, sandals with socks and athletic attire. One wore a jersey that said "Chicago Bulls."
