“Eboni Alls said her 8-year-old wanted to go to the park Wednesday night,” wrap.com reports, “but after she told him to go, she later learned he was up to no good.” Copy that . . .
The boy, identified as Jaden, rode his bicycle to a King Foods grocery store in his West Palm Beach neighborhood. Security footage shows him entering the store wearing a bike helmet and baggy clothes that were concealing a loaded handgun.
Jaden walked inside and looked around the front of the store for about a minute before heading toward the checkout counter and approaching the cashier.
“I saw the boy take the gun. He said ‘give me the money’,” said employee Robert Espinal.
[Note: “take” as in pull the gun from his pocket and aim it at the clerk.]
One employee said he wasn’t sure if the gun was real or fake in the moment, but that he took the threat seriously. Several workers reacted quickly, and one reached Jaden, twisted his wrist, and took the weapon away.
You could say that Ms. Alls is irresponsible for not teaching her boy the difference between right and wrong. You might also say that a parent shouldn’t let an eight-year-old boy go to a park at night unaccompanied.
It might also be possible that Ms. Alls has what some people would describe as a “bad kid.” And/or that she was somewhat to completely powerless to stop him from “falling in with a bad crowd” that influenced his choices.
Be that as it may, Ms. Alls was a gun owner who failed to keep control of her firearm.
“When I grabbed my purse, it was so light … I knew I was missing something. I said ‘where’s my gun?’ The first thing I thought was I hope Jaden doesn’t have my gun,” said Alls.
What was it I’ve said about off-body carry? Oh yeah: don’t. “Alls said that, if she could do things differently, she would have kept the gun locked in a safe.” Don’t be that woman.
[h/t AM]