UPDATE: Boy apprehended after series of West Philly stickups

UPDATE — A young criminal who pulled a silver handgun on multiple people in West Philadelphia — and tried unsuccessfully to rob them — has been apprehended, according to police investigators. He was arrested after being identified by some of the victims and is being formally charged with five counts of robbery.

UPDATE — A young criminal who pulled a silver handgun on multiple people in West Philadelphia — and tried unsuccessfully to rob them — has been apprehended, according to police investigators. He was arrested after being identified by some of the victims and is being formally charged with five counts of robbery.

Philadelphia police are searching for a very young criminal, believed to be between 12 and 14 years old. The youthful lawbreaker has pulled a silver handgun on multiple people in West Philadelphia in unsuccessful attempts to rob them.

One of the tiny robber’s targets was Phillip Lucas, a Philadelphia Daily News crime and breaking news reporter. Lucas was walking toward the Market Frankford El — on his way to a meeting. A kid stopped and asked him for the time.

  • WHYY thanks our sponsors — become a WHYY sponsor

“Of course I don’t really think much of it. I pull out my phone and said it’s 10:26 a.m.,” Lucas said. “The kid looked about 12, so if a kid that young asks for the time, you don’t really — or at least I don’t really — think much of it.”

Lucas kept walking. Then he heard footsteps behind him.

“I turn around, and it’s the same kid running up behind me and the next thing I know he’s pulling a gun out of his pocket and he tells me, you know, ‘Give me all your money.’ And I’m just looking at this kid like, ‘What are you doing?’ I just told him I don’t have anything,” Lucas said.

The heist was unsuccessful and the small criminal left empty-handed.

Lucas said he doesn’t feel angry that something like this could happen — it’s a big city — but he was struck by the would-be robber’s youth.

WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today.

Want a digest of WHYY’s programs, events & stories? Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Together we can reach 100% of WHYY’s fiscal year goal