'This can't be real': Boston teen, 14, charged after allegedly flashing gun at kids running lemonade stand, then running away with their profits

“It’s just horrific and unacceptable that something like this could happen,” Suffolk County district attorney Kevin R. Hayden declared during a neighborhood gathering, the New York Times reports.

City Councillor Ed Flynn added that, “There is little I can think of more disturbing than the innocence of a children’s lemonade stand being violated by an armed robbery.”

As the New York Times reported, a 14-year-old boy has been arrested and faces armed robbery charges for flashing a gun and stealing the cash, while his accomplice is still at large. The robbery, however, hasn’t dampened the spirits of the community as it’s rallied around the two young entrepreneurs who endured the terrifying experience.

Robbing a lemonade stand at gunpoint

According to reports, siblings David and Juliette Byrne — aged 12 and 11 respectively — were working their lemonade stand on a corner near 157 West Ninth Street in South Boston when the two suspects “made several passes,” and then approached to ask if the children accept Apple Pay.

David told CBS News that one suspect “walked over here and said, ‘I might need to take the [cash] box,’ and he grabbed it with one hand, and he showed us the gun which was right here [in his waistband].”

He added that his sister raised her hands and told the thieves they could have the cash box, noting “after that I was a little annoyed because we were 12 and 11 and you shouldn’t really do that.”

The kids then called their parents at work to tell them what happened, with their father, also named David, recalling “It was heartbreaking, it was chilling. I was honestly like, ‘this can’t be real.’”

Boston Police didn’t immediately reply to Moneywise’s request for comment.

The kids, however, handled the situation perfectly — according to security experts — by cooperating, raising their hands and allowing the thieves to take the money.