By Andrea Noble
The Washington Times
WASHINGTON, D.C. — D.C. police put out an alert for an unusual robbery suspect this past weekend: a black male roughly 6 or 7 years old.
Police issued the alert about 8:10 p.m. Sunday, asking the public to look out for a suspect about 4 feet tall and weighing around 100 pounds.
In a news release issued about two hours later, a spokeswoman said the Metropolitan Police Department is investigating a report that a group of boys between the ages of 7 and 14 approached a customer at a McDonald’s in the 4300 block of Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue in Northeast at approximately 6:30 p.m. Police said the juveniles were panhandling and the customer pulled out his cellphone to call police when one of the youths snatched his phone and fled, police said.
The alert described the boy involved in the robbery as wearing a white shirt and black shorts. No description was given of the others in the group. It warned the public not to take action but to call 911 if the boy is spotted.
On Monday, police spokeswoman Gwendolyn Crump said investigators were continuing to look into the report.
“At this time, we have not been able to verify this allegation,” she said.
No additional information about the circumstances surrounding the robbery were available Monday.
Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said in a community meeting last month that robberies were up by 10 percent across the city this year, attributing the increase to criminals attempting to steal smartphones and other hand-held electronic devices.
Copyright 2012 The Washington Times LLC