A 16-year-old male used a fake gun while trying to rob a man on a Philadelphia street late Sunday night.
However, the victim had a real gun and fired it at the teen boy, wounding him and sending him to a hospital, WPVI-TV reported.
The victim remained on the scene and was cooperating with police.
The incident occurred just after 11 p.m. in the 2200 block of Emerald Street in the city’s West Kensington neighborhood, the station said.
The teen pressed what he told the 21-year-old victim was a gun to his back and added that he was robbing him, police inspector D.F. Pace told WCAU-TV. The teen was with another would-be robber, the station said.
The 16-year-old told the victim to turn over his keys, his wallet, and any other valuables that he had on him, Pace added to WCAU.
“At that point, the victim began to produce the items that were demanded by the robber, but he was also in possession of a legal firearm,” Pace explained to the station.
With that, the man turned and shot the boy once in the leg, Pace added to WCAU, adding that the other would-be thief escaped on foot.
The wounded teen was taken to St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children where he was in stable condition, WPVI said.
The victim remained on the scene and was cooperating with police, WPVI added, while also noting that officers said a nearby Ring camera recorded video of the incident.
Pace also told WCAU that the victim — who was uninjured — took back his belongings he had handed over after the teen dropped them.
Responding officers also recovered a toy handgun that Pace said was used in the attempted robbery, WCAU reported.
“After the victim opened fire on the robbers, that gun was dropped, and it was recovered by police, and it is now in police custody, and we now know it to be a fake gun,” Pace also told WCAU. “But again, having been pressed into the victim’s back, there would have been no way for the victim to have known that.”
Police also said they took the teen into custody, WCAU reported.
According to WTXF-TV, the victim was with his girlfriend at the time of the incident.
– YouTubeyoutu.be
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
