BOSTON (WHDH) – A 12-year-old boy who said the lemonade stand he runs with his 11-year-old sister in South Boston was robbed Wednesday will be back open for business Friday with a new mission: half of the proceeds will go toward reducing gun violence.
Boston police released video Thursday of the two male juveniles they are looking for in connection with the robbery. The victims told police that the suspects walked by the stand on the corner of E and W 9th Street several times before approaching and asking whether they accepted Apple Pay as payment. Before the victims could respond, one suspect grabbed a box filled with the money they had earned before they both took off from the scene.
David Byrne, the 12-year-old boy who runs the stand with his sister, said the one of the suspects flashed a firearm in his waistband at the time of the incident.
“He walked over here, he said, ‘I might need to take the box,’ and he grabbed it with one hand, and then he showed us the gun which was right here. My sister, she put her hands up and I just said, ‘you can have it,’” Byrne said. “I thought it was very, like, rude, because they were young and they shouldn’t have done that at that age.”
The victims’ parents said they were in disbelief and disgust at the crime.
“They called me, I’m at work. They’re hysterical and say, ‘Someone just came with a gun and took all our money,” said Jennifer Byrne, the victims’ mother.
“It was heartbreaking, it was chilling. I was honestly like, ‘this can’t be real,’” said David Byrne, the victims’ father.
The family said the children’s cash box was found empty down the road.
Neighbors are now rallying behind the sibling duo, and a community lemonade stand is planned for Friday in the same spot where the robbery happened.
“It’s something that they love doing, and it was something that was taken from them,” said Jonathan Raukohl, a neighbor.
As Byrne returns to business, he said he plans to donate half of the proceeds toward reducing gun violence.
“This just shows awareness of, like, gun violence, and that you shouldn’t do this at this age or at all,” he said.
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