A 7-year-old boy in Tennessee recalled the terrifying moments he was robbed at gunpoint in an incident that has also left his family and community shaken.
Kamari Harden said he was walking home from the Riverview Community Center in south Memphis on March 18 at 9 p.m., when a teenager ambushed him, pinned him to the ground, and stole cash out of his pocket.
Kamari told WREG that the teen tripped him up, causing him to fall to the ground. At that point, the suspect kneeled over Kamari, rummaged through his pockets, and took two $5 bills. He told his mother and police that two teens were involved in the theft, and that they also robbed two other young boys who were with him.
“I heard one (boy) say, ‘Don’t do it,’ because he’ll get his mama. He still did it,” Kamari told the outlet. “He pat them down first when he stole their money. He pinned me down. He put his knee on my legs, so I won’t move. He put the gun on my leg, and I was holding my pocket because I was trying to protect myself, when he pulled my hand off my pocket. He got into my pocket, and he stole my money.”
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The 7-year-old said that he was scared to resist for too long because of the gun the teen had.
“I was thinking about like he was gonna shoot me, so I just let my hand go,” Kamari said.
Kamari’s mother said she is infuriated by what happened. She said that Kamari and her other two children have never undergone anything so traumatizing or threatening in their lives.
“He doesn’t even want to leave the porch. He’s scared to walk around the neighborhood because he doesn’t know if it’s going to happen to him again,” his mother said.
Police say the teen who stole from Kamari pointed a black handgun at the child, then ran into an open field after the robbery, according to a police report obtained by WHBQ.
Neither child was physically hurt during the incident.
Kamari’s mother said she believes the teen culprits are part of a group of older teenagers who have consistently terrorized the neighborhood. Now, she wants to move her family out of the area.
“It is not safe over here; these parents up over here, they don’t care how their kids react to things, or they don’t care what their kids are doing out here,” the boy’s mother said. “So I’m trying to get my kids away from all of this. I can’t take it no more.”
As news about the incident circulated on social media, people expressed concern about why young Kamari was allowed to walk home from the community center without adult supervision. His mother said the center is only around the corner from their home.
Police learned that one of the suspects was wearing a black jacket and black jeans at the time of the robbery. Investigators say they are checking surveillance cameras in the area as they work to locate the suspects.
