Boston police arrest teen suspect in armed lemonade stand robbery
A 14-year-old suspect was arrested after two children were robbed at a South Boston lemonade stand, while police continued to hunt a second teen.
Boston police have arrested a 14-year-old in the armed robbery of a children’s lemonade stand in South Boston, a case that has drawn outsize attention because the victims were children and the suspects were described as boys themselves. The arrest came as detectives kept searching for a second suspect and urged residents to help identify the pair.
Police said the robbery happened at about 4:44 p.m. on Wednesday, June 10, on West Ninth Street. Two children, later identified in local coverage as 12-year-old David Byrne and 11-year-old Juliette Byrne, were running the stand when the suspects made several passes, then approached and asked whether Apple Pay was accepted. Officers said one suspect displayed a black firearm in his waistband before the pair took a cash box containing about $50 and fled.
The Boston Police Department said a 14-year-old juvenile male was arrested in South Boston on June 12 and is expected to be arraigned in Boston Juvenile Court on two counts of armed robbery and two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm. Police also released surveillance images and video from the investigation and said the second suspect remains at large. Detectives asked anyone with information to call investigators at (617) 343-4742 or submit an anonymous tip through Boston Police CrimeStoppers.
The small amount of cash stolen did little to soften the reaction in the neighborhood. The stand was supposed to be part of an ordinary summer scene, a child-run business raising money on a residential street, but instead it became a flashpoint for fears about youth violence and access to guns in everyday public spaces. Jennifer Byrne said her children were traumatized, and Dave Byrne described the robbery as disgusting and noted that it happened in broad daylight.
By Friday, June 12, the Byrne family had reopened the lemonade stand with community support. Mayor Michelle Wu attended the reopening, and Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn said half the money raised would go to a local organization focused on preventing gun violence. The Boston Police Department also pointed families and neighbors affected by the case to the Boston Neighborhood Trauma Team, which offers free, confidential support around the clock.
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