A 7-year-old armed with a hatchet was reportedly among a group of young people who harrassed five teenage girls on a Seattle bus before robbing one of them.
The shocking incident began when the group began taunting the girls by making "biased remarks about their race and their privilege" as they traveled through the city's Green Lake neighborhood, police Det. Eric Muñoz told local TV station KIRO.
The girls got off the bus but were followed and surrounded by the group, whose members ranged in age from 7 to 17, KIRO said.
They were reportedly cursing at the girls and demanding money when the 7-year-old displayed the hatchet and a teen with a baby on her hip reached into a girl's purse and stole her cash.
The girls, reportedly all 15, then ran away and into an ice cream shop to call 911.
The store manager described them as panicking and crying when they burst inside, KIRO said.
No arrests have been reported in the July 22 incident, which is being investigated as a first-degree robbery because a deadly weapon was used, according to TV station KOMO.
But even if arrested, the hatchet-wielding child is too young to be charged with a crime under state law, Muñoz told KOMO.
"The 7-year-old is not culpable of a crime, not until the individual reached the age of 12," Muñoz said.
