Teens charged after allegedly robbing 12-year-old at gunpoint in Humble
HUMBLE, Texas (KTRK) -- Two teens have been charged with aggravated robbery after allegedly robbing a 12-year-old boy who was walking home from school in a Humble neighborhood Thursday afternoon.
"What is this world coming to?" said neighbor Martiza Fanini. "It's terrible."
Fanini has lived in the neighborhood since the beginning. She built her house 15 years ago and said a lot has changed since then.
"The neighborhood is getting real bad. It didn't start getting bad until all these teenagers started growing up," said Fanini.
In fact, she said she wasn't surprised to hear about what happened on Thursday.
Constable Mark Herman said that a 12-year-old boy was walking home from school when two 16-year-olds suddenly approached him with a gun.
Deputies responded to the scene in the 8100 block of Wooded Terrace.
"He was pretty shook up. A 12-year-old kid, being robbed at gunpoint, his cell phone taken," said Herman. "He did the right thing. He gave them his cell phone, complied with them, and we were very fortunate no one was injured."
Deputies were able to catch the two teens quickly because they were already in the neighborhood responding to an earlier complaint involving the same teens.
"Our department had actually received a call regarding shots being fired in the area," said Herman. "We were actually in the area when this other robbery occurred. That's why we were able to actually catch these two individuals. We found out they tried to rob other kids, and the kids took off running, and they shot into the ground or to the air, we're not really sure, to stop them from running. That's what alerted folks to call in about shots being fired."
Constable Herman said the gun was taken from a family member of one of the teens.
When asked about the guns, Herman encouraged parents to be responsible when storing their weapons.
"You need to secure these weapons to where kids don't have access to them," he said.
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