Boy accused in attempted carjacking had prior run-in with police
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PORTLAND, Ore. – The 11-year-old boy who allegedly tried to carjack a woman at gunpoint outside a Southeast Portland church over the weekend has a history of trouble in the neighborhood.
Additionally, the boy had a run-in with police a few days before, KATU News has learned.
On Saturday afternoon, Amy Garrett told KATU it was surreal when two boys with a gun – a 7-year-old and the 11-year-old – threatened to shoot her if she didn’t give up her truck.
"He was showing me his gun, and I asked him if it was real, and he said, 'You don't ever ask somebody if it's real, that's how you get yourself shot,'" Garrett said.
Garrett refused to give the boys her truck, money and a phone even though she said the older boy told her that he had that .22-caliber handgun cocked and ready to fire.
Police found the boys near Freedom Foursquare Church after someone called police to report that an 11-year-old boy spotted another 11-year-old boy with a loaded handgun.
The boys tried to run off when police arrived and tried to talk to them, but officers stopped them near the church. They told the 11-year-old boy to keep his hands out of his pockets, but he refused, police said. An officer grabbed his arms and found a cocked and loaded handgun in his pocket.
The boy's mother said through the front door of the family's home Monday she didn't know where he got the gun and it didn't come from her house.
Police also said they don't know where the boy picked up the gun.
A neighbor, Naomi Solomon, said she too has had trouble with the boy.
"He asked me for money and stuff like that, and I told him I would call the cops," she said.
Solomon said the boy confronts her whenever he sees her walking past his home and he threatens her when she won't give him money.
"He said he would hurt me," Solomon said.
A dentist, Dr. Ed Hagen, who works right next to the crime scene, also said he had trouble with the 11-year-old a weekend before the attempted carjacking.
"He and a few of his friends even threw rocks through my dental office building," Hagen said.
Hagen said he's more concerned about the grade-schooler's future than he is about the glass that he's already replaced.
He needs help, and I don't know if he's getting it here," he said.
Solomon wasn't so altruistic. She said she just tries to avoid the 11-year-old.
"I hate to walk down this street because of the little boy," she said.
Solomon never reported the panhandling and threats to police but Hagen did. Police responded to that call and after talking to the 11-year-old, police immediately returned him to his parents.
The parents also kept custody of both boys after the attempted carjacking.
***What consequences will the boys face?***
There is a chance the boys' parents will face charges, but there's a lot of investigating left to do.
One question that hasn't been answered is how did the boys get the gun? If a parent left it out on a coffee table that parent could face a criminal mistreatment charge.
The department of human services will be investigating each boy's home life, looking into their safety, supervision and even determining if they should be removed from their homes.
State and county officials will decide as early as Tuesday if the boys will go through the juvenile court system and face legal consequences like a curfew or probation.
While some people might say the boys should be in custody now, Tom Cleary, Multnomah County senior deputy district attorney, said "that isn't a decision that we made. That's was a decision that the police officers made. They were in the best position to make that determination."
In Oregon, these kids are too young to automatically be placed in juvenile detention. They have to be at least 12 for that.
So police officers would have needed a special court order, which they clearly didn't feel was necessary Saturday.
A 7- and 11-year-old are at different stages of development, so they'll be treated differently. It's more likely the 11-year-old will face legal consequences.
A background check of the 11-year-old boy’s father found his father was arrested and convicted in 2003 for multiple felony assaults and he was sentenced to jail time and probation.
KATU News reporter Erica Nochlin contributed to this report.
I say send in Seal Team 6. Problem solved.
The apple doesn't fall to far from the tree.
OMG ........Use condoms next time.
need to embrace these children, and get them the help they need. Obviously their parents can't afford it, but there has to be some kind of services out there that can help them, so they can be productive citizens when they grow up.
It's a grievous injustice to everyone (boy included) to not confine this child.
This kid is all about threatening women who are alone in public. What's really alarming is his willingness to confront total strangers, a huge risk factor in predicting violent behavior. Can't wait to see how he treats his first girlfriend..
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If no legal action could be taken, I wonder if the officers could've placed a 3-day psych hold on the kid for being an obvious imminent threat to others..
 @StealthActivist It's only a matter of time before the police will have no choice but to kill him. I feel sorry for the officer that will eventually answer that call.
I feel bad for this boy, who learned to be a brute and a bully from his own father. DHS should have intervened a long time ago, but they are always too busy removing kids from good parents, then holding on to them for a year, making the parents jump through hoops and lose their jobs. But that's another story. It might be too late now for this boy. Why has he still not told them where he got the gun from? Probably because he got it from his dad. If not, why can't his parents make him tell? I believe this kid needs to be charged with a crime and go through the juvenile system. He also desperately needs to be removed from his home, since his parents can't or won't control him. This incident could have gone so badly. It's also really concerning that he didn't follow the cop's orders and take his hands out of his pockets when they confronted him. I wish the parents could also be charged, since they're the ones responsible, ultimately.
 @QuandoQuandoQuando definitely some kind of disorder like anti-social personality or psychopath brewing there...ugh!
I guess the seed doesn't fall too far from the tree...the kid needs help and it can be as simple as refuge and a real job to do....Personally I could also use a 'JOB'
we as a society are guilty of letting these two children down. remember it takes a village
@Phuzz Are you for real? I'm so tired of hearing that "village" crap. Maybe you want to accept responsibility for the failures of these parents, but count me out. Breeding is easy, any moron can procreate. But it takes love, maturity and guidance to raise a child. It's a 24/7 job. Some people just aren't willing to give it that much effort, and this is the result.Â
 @Phuzz If you want to take the blame for every wacko kid out there, be my guest. This kid is an exception. He's probably deeply disturbed, mentally ill, socio/psychopath. He needs to be in a therapeutic mental health facility. Locked facility.Â
@Phuzz don't blame me for the brat's poor parenting. People need to stop blaming society for anti-social behavior.
To be honest I was quick to demand Justice and vengeance for this kid. However the more I think about it I am sorry for him. Obviously he does not have loving caring parents. I do not see how any kid could become this demented unless there was no one looking out for their well being and care to see that they are a contributing member of society. I have to say the parents are the ones who should be strung up for this. For the love of God they were not even grounded the next day. Yank those boys from that household and put them in the care of the state.
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 @xilef regnu That isn't going to teach him anything but more violence. He needs to be removed from his home and placed in foster care where he will undergo intensive therapy. He comes from violence so what else does he know unless shown otherwise?
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 @Playanekes That isn't going to teach him anything but more violence. He needs to be removed from his home and placed in foster care where he will undergo intensive therapy. He comes from violence so what else does he know unless shown otherwise?
 @Freckled_Girl  @Playanekes I think he's beyond foster care. He's dangerous. His own parents may fear him.
Someone is teaching these kids these things. And where are the parents? I think they need to get into trouble for this, As well as the children.
 @Manda J  The fruit doesn't fall far from the tree-the dad was convicted of multiple felony assaults.  He's a great role model.
Whera are his & seven years old's parents????? Looked like they lost complete control of their sons who are only 11 and 7 years old.. Also, where did 11 years old boy get gun from?    Parents,, you have to watch your children and to know where are they at right this minute.
It looks like the 11 year old could be headed for serious trouble in the future. If he is not grabbed quickly, moved someplace to perhaps help him get his head on straight. It may already be too late. He has a history of confronting people. He seems to feel he can do as he wishes. Until he is held accountable, he will only get worse.
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The 7 year old as mentioned is more of a follower. Hopefully someone could get him on track and away from trouble. If he continues, he will face a long dark road in his life also. It is too bad that some people can not be accountable for their actions.
 @Just Lookin It already IS too late for the 11 yr old. He has something really wrong with his mind to not obey police ( about taking his hands out of pockets where he was holding a cocked gun) and threatening women, girls and even adult men with violence &/or weapons. He needs to be in a locked psych ward or something til they can see if he can ever be released safely. Hate to say it but some people are born with "bad wiring".
"The parents also kept custody of both boys after the attempted carjacking."
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What. The. F.... A kid having a gun and using it to attempt to commit a crime and they let HIM GO HOME!!!???? While I think this state is all too eager to get kids in the system when diversion type programs and no record would be better off, THIS IS NOT SUCH A CASE. Throw that little punk in Maclaren!
No worries, in four years he'll study for the PSATs, then apply to an Ivy School a year after that.
"The department of human services will be investigating each boy's home life, looking into their safety, supervision and even determining if they should be removed from their homes."
It's obvious - even without investigating the home - that these children need to be removed and given a chance to succeed in their lives, through discipline, reform, guidance and proper modeling. Clearly theses parents aren't up to the task. How much worse does it have to get?
 @gofigure >'It's obvious - even without investigating the home - that these children need to be removed and given a chance to succeed in their lives, through discipline, reform, guidance and proper modeling. Clearly theses parents aren't up to the task. '
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You speak with the wisdom of Job, my good man.Â
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About the only possible exception (in my mind) would be some sort of mental health problem (schizophrenia, sociopath). Even then, it's obvious that the parents aren't capable of containing his behaviors so as to not have him be a very real threat to the saftey of others. Â
I would sincerely hope that by now the state CPS and/or youth authority is considering (if not actively persuing) bringing him into custody. Given his escalation of behaviors, I would tend to believe that it's only a matter of time before he or someone else gets injured or killed by him.Â
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Moreover, someone desperately needs to do some investigation of the parents. There is simply no way outside of blatant sociopathic tendencies (mental health issues) that this kid isn't either being taught such behaviors by his environment, or just being left to fend for himself on a daily basis.Â
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Frankly, it's a bit frightening to me both as a citizen and as a parent that this kid has managed to elude law enforcement to this point. I can give him a pass (fine, community service, probation) on throwing rocks through a window, but the moment that he pulls a gun on someone, goodwill and understanding go out the window. There needs to be some serious corrective actions taken against this young man. If not for societies sake, for HIS sake. At the rate he's going, he's going to end up being nothing more than an inmate in his future. It's pretty apparent that his primary care givers are either unable, or unwilling to do so, thus it falls upon society (read: the judicial system) to engage his behaviors in order to (hopefully) turn this downward spiral around.Â
"***What consequences will the boys face?***There is a chance the boys' parents will face charges, but there's a lot of investigating left to do."
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Is the chance like a snowball's chance in Hades or like winning the last Powerball lottery? There is no chance with the snowball, but there is a slim chance with the Powerball winning. I think it's pretty sick that this boy has already had an altercation with the police before, yet the parents are being quite complacent about disciplining their son.Â
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The parents are the source of this problem. I'm in agreement with Margay. The 7 year old is a follower. The 11 year old is the instigator, and needs some major disciplining.Â
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 @washcomom "The 7 year old is a follower."
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We don't quite know that, yet. Â No one at KATU has talked with his family and I don't know if they even have his name or the ability to do a background check on that kid and his family.
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While I don't think he was the instigator, I can't rule out the 7 year old had some type of interest in the situation. Â If, as the 11 year old's father said, the 7 year old had the gun and brought it in to the equation (even if the 11 year old had it in his possession at least by the time the cops searched him), he's certainly more involved in the situation than simply being with the wrong person at the wrong time.
It's just a matter of time until he pulls the gun on the wrong person and his parent(s) have to identify his corpse in the morgue.
 @Jamie Then his parents will be saying, "He was a good boy. He didn't dues nuthin" This will especially be true if the "good boy" pulls a gun on a law enforcement officer.
 @Jamie Unfortunately I have to say, I hope you are right. So sad, that his parents failed him.  People shouldn't have to live in fear of these little punks!
"In Oregon, these kids are too young to automatically be placed in juvenile detention. They have to be at least 12 for that. So police officers would have needed a special court order, which they clearly didn't feel was necessary Saturday."
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What? How many adults in the same situation would be allowed to go home? They should get the dang court order!
"State and county officials will decide as early as Tuesday if the boys will go through the juvenile court system and face legal consequences like a curfew or probation." Â Â (from the story)
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Oh yes; I'm sure that a "curfew" will work wonders... if I recall right, their attempted robbery of Ms Garrett happened in broad daylight, didn't it??? Â So how would a curfew have helped there? Â And who's going to ENFORCE it, since the parents are obviously not very interested in BEING parents..! Â Â "Probation"? Â Â Yeah, riiiiight..!
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Y'know, I usually don't attempt to "2nd guess" the police; after all, they were there...I wasn't. Â Â But I really do not understanding their reasoning on this one in simply returning the kids to their parents..! Â The 7-year-old, well maybe... he sounds more like a follower, and at that age, they're pretty susceptible to the "power of suggestion" from the older boys... Â
The 11-year-old, however had a loaded and cocked handgun in his pocket - not a toy, not a replica - but an actual handgun...and he threatened Ms Garrett with it, attempting to rob her of her truck, money, phone, etc... Â Â
His past record makes it even more problematic, because he's very clearly "escalating" the level of his crimes now. Â Â
By what stretch of the imagination can anyone NOT consider that kid to be a "clear and present danger"..?!?!
How long do they plan on waiting...until he SHOOTS his next victim.. just so they can see if he's really serious??? Â Â
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@margay1 The only chance this kid may have is 1) a complete mental health and physical health evaluation, 2) treatment, 3) boot camp for youthful offenders. This boy has no path to follow except the wrong one, does not respect anyone or anything, and he has too much free time on his hands. At this rate, he will be dead before he is 13.  What a waste. Â
 @margay1 I'm with you in your frustration, margay. The problem isn't the officers, it's the judicial system.Â
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At age 11, just short of the boy actually shooting someone, the laws simply don't allow for him to be charged as an adult. I also agree with your observations about his escalating behavioral patterns. It frightens me to the core wondering how he got his hands on a gun, and ammo for it.Â
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I'm sincerely hoping that CPS and OR youth authority now have him on their RADAR, preferably in their crosshairs. At this rate, it won't be long before we read a headline about him injuring or killing someone.Â
 @MarkKpic ~  I'm not blaming the police officers, Mark...and I hope my comment wasn't taken that way... I realize that they are at the mercy of our (broken) judicial system.  Since there is an option, though, for obtaining a special court order in special situations, I wonder why it was apparently not even attempted in this instance, given the obvious severity of the situation.  Â
This 11-year-old is a loose cannon...and left to his own devices, he's either going to kill or maim someone else - or he's going to come up against the business end of someone else's 2nd Amendment rights, and he'll end up in the morgue. Â Â
 @margay1 Unfortunately, our judicial system is pretty fowled up in regards to youth. We don't live in Mayberry anymore, and there is a need for our judicial response to reflect this reality. When young 'flash mobs' commit what would be considered RICO statute offenses and then are let off with barely a slap on the hand, and a kid who pulls a gun on someone in an attempt to steal their car isn't arrested on the spot.... Yeah, there's a problem.Â
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I don't give a good gosh darn if you're 10 or 50, when you pull a gun in an attempt to steal something from someone (money, drugs, or a car), you should (at the very least) spend the night in lockup and get the silver bracelets all the way in. Hopefully, the experience will be enough of a harbinger of things to come for you to change your course in life.Â
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The question that keeps coming through my mind is, what if the (apparently loaded) gun had gone off? Intentionally or not, the bullet and resulting injuries wouldn't care much about the age of the person pulling the trigger. The idea that someone should not be held liable because of their age in such instances is (to me) a bit foolish. While I can understand the idea of (perhaps) approaching such instances with 'youthful ignorance' as the mitigating circumstances, I don't for a minute believe that they should just be released to their parents without judicial response.Â
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I will say this though, it's a sad statement about the state of affairs in our society when such questions/situations even have to be addressed.Â
Put them both to work for 22 hours a day in some salt mines. When they croak, it'll be taxpayer dollars saved!
 @poopstainmonkey ~  Sounds like a plan to me... Do we have any salt mines in Oregon..???
 @poopstainmonkey Worked in Gormenghast, didn't it?!
The father of the 11 yr old has an extensive criminal history as per KATU. Father like son so toss them away. The 7 yr old was a follower so he is worth saving. Neighbours are talking of problems with 11 yr old in past.....Just watch if something significant is not done the 11 y old will kill one or more people in time.
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@poopstainmonkey A couple of years difference at that age is quite a big gap in maturity and the 7 yr old would look up to and follow the lead of the 11 yr. old. Dump the father of the 11 yr. old and the 11 yr. old.
I'm sure some well meaning social worker will step up to save this little scumbag. Â Won't work, he's too far gone.
It's not just the illegals. We have plenty of home-grown trash here.
Give it a year, he'll be old enough for juvy by then. Hopefully he doesn't kill someone before that.
Holy Cow! (respectfully) Â
These boys are lost to society already.  Yes, charge the parents, but what about these (please pardon the usage) rats-without-tails-and-fur?!
@Gravity Works! One of the stations talked to the mother of the 11 yr. old and said that the kid did not get the gun out of their house......Reason she would say that, husband has an extensive criminal history and probably has a firearm prohibition because of assault convictions. So the father would get arrested if the gun were tied to the home. It is probably stolen and was in the fathers control.
 @FreerideNOT I'm sorry, this relates to my comment, how?  Oh, I get it! . . . .
"These boys are lost to society already. Â Yes, charge ***both the sperm donor and the egg bearer*** . . . " etc, etc. Â
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Is that better?!
@Gravity Works! 'yes charge the parents" in simple terms the mother denied the gun came from the home, reason she said that is there is a felon prohibition on the father for owning/possessing a firearm.........Thus the father and or the mother can be criminally charged