WKEU Radio

 

Officers of the Griffin Police Department made four arrests after an Armed Robbery that occurred in the Kroger Shopping Center at 1424 North Expressway Monday night. Four juveniles, whose ages range from 14 to 16 years old, were arrested within a few minutes after the incident. Due to the nature of the crime with it being a forcible felony, they are being charged as adults.

 

Patrolman Trey Williams responded to the front of Spalding Liquor just before 9:00 PM to make contact with Richard Pierce and Donna McAfee. As Williams was speaking to the victims, Patrolman Jeff Smith located four juveniles matching the descriptions of the suspects near the west entrance to the Experiment Station on Old Atlanta Road. One of the juveniles had CO2 cartridges in his pocket and another was carrying copper BBs. An air gun was found at their location hidden in the grass on the shoulder of Old Atlanta Road. According to Jeff Smith, the air gun could easily be mistaken for a semi-automatic firearm.

 

The situation started when Mr. Pierce and Ms. McAfee were sitting on a bench in the shopping center. Four juveniles approached them coming from Blockbuster, walked past them, and then started staring at them. The victims stated that they felt uneasy about the situation so they decided to walk away. However, the juveniles started following Mr. Pierce and making demands for his money. One of the juveniles bumped into him and tried to remove his wallet as the other juveniles surrounded him. Another juvenile attacked Mr. Pierce from behind and punched him in the neck. Then, a third juvenile pulled a “pistol” from his waistband and started firing at Mr. Pierce while the juveniles ran towards Good City. Mr. Pierce commented that he thought the gun was real until he realized that it did not issue a report the way a firearm normally would.

 

Patrolman Williams stated, “While speaking with Mr. Pierce and Ms. McAfee, they were visibly afraid. They both continued to say that they were very scared.”

 

The victims were able to positively identify the juveniles in Patrolman Smith’s custody as the offenders. Mr. Pierce’s description of the gun matched the one located by Smith. The gun did not have any fluorescent markings on it that could identify it as not being a real firearm.  The juveniles are all charged with Armed Robbery. Due to the severity of the crime, Georgia law dictates that they are to be adjudicated as adults.

 

Officer Brian Clanton stated “We’re seeing more of this type of crime with our young people. Many times they use toy guns or air guns because of their accessibility. However, some think that if they do not use a real firearm, then they lessen the severity of the crime. This is absolutely wrong. They are using these items to prey on victims by making the victims afraid of death or bodily injury. When they do this, it is still Armed Robbery since it is based on the perception of the victim. In the real world it is impossible for a victim to distinguish between a real firearm and a toy gun if the toy gun has been altered to resemble a real firearm. If the victim in this case had been inclined to do so, he would have been justified in combating the threat to his person by using deadly force against his assailant.”

 

Officer Clanton also stated “I am constantly hearing people in the community blame the community for the actions of these juvenile offenders. I have had people tell me that our area ‘does not have anything for our young people to do’ and that this is why they turn to crime. That is simply passing the blame and a blatant fallacy. There are plenty of opportunities for young people in our area to participate in positive activities regardless of wealth or social standing such as: church youth groups and their trips/activities, school sports/clubs, the Civil Air Patrol, the U.S. Navy Sea Cadets, Boy/Girl Scouts, Explorer posts, high school AJROTC with their teams, Parks and Recreation Activities, 4-H, and plenty of others. These juvenile offenders commit crime because they choose to be criminals. They do not threaten to hurt people out of boredom.”  We of WKEU agree with our local law enforcement personnel in that the blame for behavior lays directly with parents and their association with their children and their activities. And we thank our police personnel for their job they do every day.