Starting young
Chico police Sgt. Dave Barrow said the youth was being “relatively cooperative,” though he could not disclose what information he was sharing with investigators. The youth, described as a black male with a “lazy” eye, was already on probation for a previous crime. Police are still searching for the boy’s older accomplice, who they say carried a handgun while robbing at least three and possibly four stores along with his younger protàgà. That suspect is described as a bald black man, about 6’ 4”, 250 pounds.
Barrow noted that the average take of a robbery of this type is only about $200 to $500, but the pair in this case seems to have been encouraged by some early luck at the ABC Market, a robbery that netted more than $1,500. While Barrow said it was unusual to see such a young suspect involved in violent crime in this area, it is fast becoming a more common sight.
"We are getting to see more and more of that up here—the younger, hardened, brazen criminal." Barrow said, adding that the younger a criminal is, the higher the chance for a lethal incident is. "It’s pretty scary to have people of that age armed and doing crimes like that. They just don’t have the judgment an older person would."