Boy, 14, charged as adult in carjacking
Ninth-grader also faces assault, robbery charges.
WEST PA L M B E AC H — A 14-year-old boy is facing adult charges after he allegedly carjacked a New York man at gunpoint, then led city police on a car chase before he was arrested, according to an arrest report.
Willie Graham Jr. is facing charges of carjacking with a firearm, robbery with a firearm, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, fleeing and eluding and resisting arrest without violence. Graham, listed as a ninth-grade student at Palm Beach Lakes High School on the arrest report, is being held at the Palm Beach County Jail without bond.
Police say that Graham pointed a rifle at a 54-yearold man after he entered his 2015 Mustang rental in the parking lot of Maison Carlos, a restaurant on Dixie Highway just south of Belvedere Road.
“Get out of the car or I’m going to blow your head off,” Graham allegedly told the man. Four or five other young men with Graham a l l e g e d l y we n t i n t o t h e vehicle and stole the man’s belongings, including a cellphone, laptops and other items, the report said.
The alleged vic tim was not injured.
Graham left the area in the victim’s vehicle while the other males left on foot.
The Mustang was spotted by police going northbound on Quadrille Boulevard near Banyan Boulevard. Stop sticks deployed by police damaged the Mustang’s tires, but Graham continued to drive the car until it became disabled on the 5700 block of Greenwood Avenue, just north of St. Mary’s Medical Center. He fled from the car but was caught after a foot chase.
An M1 Carbine rifle was found on the floor of the passenger seat, the report said.
Graham told police that the car was loaned to him and that the rifle did not belong to him, although his fingerprints would be found on the weapon.
A background check of Graham revealed that he had been reported missing and had five active warrants for contempt of court, the report said.