Mom turns in carjacking suspect, 14

Boy accused in gunpoint holdup of 81-year-old woman outside Walmart

He’s only 14 – but he’s accused of being part of a baby-faced trio who carjacked an 81-year-old woman at gunpoint last week. And it was his mother who turned him in to police.

The teen, who attends high school and is just 4 feet, 10 inches tall, was arrested Friday on a charge of robbery, carjacking with a firearm or weapon, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said. The other two boys remain at large.

The three are accused of pointing a gun at Albina Curik and stealing her car outside a Walmart store in Lauderdale Lakes on Jan. 15, the Sheriff ’s Office said.

The 14-year-old’s mother turned him in to police on Thursday, after details of the carjacking were released, the arrest report shows.

Because the boys are minors, the South Florida Sun Sentinel is not publishing their photographs or releasing the name of the arrested teen. He confessed to his involvement in the carjacking, the arrest report said.

On the afternoon of Jan. 15, Curik and three boys walked into a Walmart at 3001 N. State Road 7 at the same time, surveillance video showed. When Curik walked back to the parking lot to her car, the boys surrounded her.

One of them pointed a gun at her and demanded her keys, according to the Sheriff ’s Office.

Curik said she at first thought the holdup was a joke and when she asked the armed boy to repeat his demand, he snatched her keys.

“I was at the car door and suddenly from nowhere come like kids, maybe 16 or not even,” Curik said. “It was scary and shocking.”

The trio then jumped into Curik’s light-brown Toyota Corolla sedan and left so abruptly they nearly struck her, said Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Gina Carter. The stolen Toyota was found shortly after the robbery, about two miles from the store, Curik said.

The Sheriff ’s Office has not yet said what the motive may have been for the carjacking.

Each boy appeared on Walmart store video wearing a dark-blue knit cap, sandals with socks and athletic attire. One wore a jersey

that said “Chicago Bulls.”

“It appears to be the first time of him [the 14-year-old] getting into this sort of trouble. We will address the charges against him as the facts develop in this case,” Chief Assistant Public Defender Gordon Weekes said on Monday; his office is representing the teenager.

Detectives ask anyone with information about the suspects to call Detective Armando Enrique at 954-321-4229. Anonymous tips can be shared with Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477 or online at browardcrimestoppers.org.

Callers who share information that leads to an arrest may be eligible for a reward of up to $3,000.