Video shows teenagers trash Baltimore store, pull toy gun in armed robbery near Washington Monument
Baltimore police responded to several troubling incidents involving juveniles this past weekend, including a stabbing at the Inner Harbor and an armed robbery near the Washington Monument.
Caught on camera
WJZ Investigates was the first to obtain video of the armed robbery from Muneeb Butt, the owner of a 7-11 convenience store on North Charles Street in the shadow of the Washington Monument.
The incident unfolded just after 6 p.m. Sunday and showed a teenager threatening Butt's staff with a hot pink colored weapon.
"One of the guys, he opened the bag, and he had some kind of pinkish gun," Butt told WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren. "They started acting like they're stealing. They stole the chips and the slushy, and then they started getting aggressive. All of a sudden, they tried to attack one of my cashiers. Then, he tried to protect himself."
The group smashed his lottery terminal, cash register, and more equipment.
One member of the group even threw a Slurpee.
Butt said there must be consequences for this kind of behavior.
"The problem is they get together as a group, and when they get together as a group, they do some funny things," the store owner said.
Butt also told WJZ he was shocked there were young children with the group. He estimated they were 7 or 8 years old.
Police told WJZ Investigates the gun turned out to be a fake, an Orbeez Gel Ball Blaster.
Officers quickly made three arrests: an 18-year-old who will face adult charges, a 17-year-old taken to the Juvenile Justice Center, and a 14-year-old who was released to his parents.
"If you were leaving, just leave. What's the point of picking the stuff up and trashing it on the floor?" Butt asked. "Luckily, none of my people got hurt, and no customer got hurt. It was just, I don't even know what to say, what was that?"
Butt is thankful for the officers' quick actions. They arrested the teenagers in the 500 block of Light Street near the Inner Harbor.
Stabbing at Inner Harbor
In another violent incident Friday night, police said an unrelated group of juveniles surrounded a 38-year-old man near the Inner Harbor in the 300-block of Light Street and stabbed him several times.
He survived, but suffered stab wounds to his body and a head injury.
Carmelina, a Baltimore native, told WJZ the violence will not scare her from her daily walks here.
"It's a shame that it happened, and I just feel there needs to be more police officers down here, but other than that I love the harbor, and I feel safe down here," she said. "My heart goes out to [the victim's] family."
No arrests have been made in that incident.
