The mother of one of three Morrisville trick-or-treaters said Wednesday that six to eight older teens stole their Halloween candy — allegedly at gunpoint — and one boy was attacked when he didn’t drop his bag fast enough.
The woman, who didn’t want to be identified, said her son didn’t recognize any of the teens who robbed them. One boy had a skull mask, but it didn’t cover his face and the others weren’t wearing masks or costumes, she said.
The three 13-year-old boys were trick-or-treating at about 8 p.m. on Sherman Lane near Doloro Drive when a group of “shady” looking kids started chasing them, the mom said. The boys approached an adult for help, but the older kids convinced the adult they were playing a Halloween prank and “just joking.”
The group continued to follow the three boys, who asked the older kids if they lived in the neighborhood. “We don’t live around here. We’re from the ‘hood,” one of them replied, according to her son.
At 8:30 p.m., the woman said the older teens confronted the three boys and one suspect held up his arm and “appeared” to have a gun. The teen ordered the boys to drop their candy bag and stole a book bag that contained an iPod and a black and silver backpack, the woman said. Police valued the items at $135.
The incident remains under investigation.
When one boy didn’t drop his bag fast enough, he was punched, stomped and kicked by others in the group, leaving him with a bloody nose, bruises and cuts. “He actually had the tread mark of a sneaker on his nose,” the woman said.
The attackers ran off after the other two boys ran back to the last house where they had stopped for candy and alerted the homeowner, the mother said.
It’s the third child-related incident since August where Morrisville police waited days before releasing information to the public.
Morrisville police notified the town’s mayor – who oversees the police department – of the Halloween incident, though Mayor Rita Ledger said Tuesday that she didn’t recall being told a gun was involved. Police didn’t notify council members or post the information on the department’s new Facebook page. The robbery report wasn’t publicly released until Tuesday, when it was included as a three-sentence item in the borough’s weekly police log.
Town watch members say they weren’t informed about the Halloween robbery, though two noted there was a strong police presence in the borough last Thursday night. The mother who called the newspaper about the robbery said she was told that police officers were stopping groups of kids after the robbery to see if they had any of the stolen items.
Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@calkins.com; Twitter: @jociavaglia
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