'It's Horrific': Children's Lemonade Stand Allegedly Robbed At Gunpoint

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Two children operating a lemonade stand in South Boston were allegedly robbed at gunpoint Wednesday afternoon, according to authorities.

Officers from the Boston Police Department (BPD) responded to a report of an armed robbery in South Boston at around 4:44 p.m. Wednesday, according to a BPD press release. Upon arriving at the scene, officers spoke with the two children, not identified, who told them that the suspects allegedly passed by the lemonade stand several times before approaching them and asking if they accepted Apple Pay as a payment method.

The children alleged that one suspect grabbed a box containing money, while the other appeared to display a gun in his waistband before both of them fled the scene. A neighbor allegedly saw the suspects with the money box nearby, and they dropped the box, grabbed the money, and ran when they spotted her, according to NBC Boston. (RELATED: Footage Shows State Trooper Nearly Shot Pitting Suspect’s SUV In Car Chase)

In surveillance images and video released by police, the alleged suspects both appear to be wearing dark-colored masks to obscure their faces. Additionally, one of the suspects can be seen wearing a black backpack. Both suspects appear to be juveniles.

Jennifer Byrne, the mother of the two children who ran the lemonade stand, described the incident as “horrific” while speaking with NBC Boston.

“My daughter called me, I’m at work. She was in hysterics, crying, saying, ‘Somebody put a gun to us and took all of our money.’ They noticed two kids with masks over their face[s] across the street, [and] they kept coming back and forth.”

“My daughter said when they said ‘We’re taking it all,’ she put her arms up in the air and said, ‘Just take it. Just take it,'” Byrne said.

Her son, the older of her two children, estimated that one of the suspects was 14 years old, and the other was around 10 or 11 years old.

“My son is 12,” Byrne explained. “He said one was smaller, he’d guess 10 or 11, and the other child looked a little older, maybe 14.”

While neither of her two children was hurt, Byrne said they were shaken by the incident, according to NBC Boston.

“My daughter, the youngest one, she’s nervous to walk the two blocks to her bus stop,” Byrne said.

Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn, who became aware of the incident after news circulated in the neighborhood and on social media, offered a similar sentiment.

“When someone robs a lemonade stand, you can’t continue saying we’re the safest city in America,” he said, NBC Boston reported.

BPD Detectives are actively investigating the incident, according to the same press release.

The Daily Caller contacted the BPD, which did not immediately comment on the alleged incident.