12-Year-Old Girl Charged With Armed Robbery

The girl was arraigned Saturday for attempted armed robbery in connection with the incident, which occurred around 10 p.m. Friday at Country Lake Market at 2150 N. Milford in Highland.

Armed with a loaded 9 mm Smith & Wesson handgun and wearing a bandana over her face, the girl confronted an employee and demanded money, according to a press release from the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.

Despite the bandana, an employee recognized the girl. One of the three employees at the store disarmed the girl and held her until deputies from the Highland Township substation of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office arrived.

“Thankfully, this had a positive outcome, at least in terms of injury or death,” Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said Saturday.

“There was a real opportunity for someone to get killed here, wrestling over a loaded handgun with one in the chamber.”

Deputies learned the girl stole the gun from the home of a neighbor who was not home at the time of the theft. She had been aware that the neighbor had a gun and knew where it was, and she had access to a key to the home.

“Obviously, it’s very upsetting that you’d have someone of any age attempt an armed robbery at a small business, but then you have a young person learning to break into a person’s home, steal a firearm and attempt to commit an armed robbery,” Bouchard said, “It’s very disconcerting.”

The girl’s mother was contacted and came to the substation, and the girl was transported to Oakland County Children’s Village pending authorization of a juvenile petition.

The incident is the second serious crime involving an Oakland County 12-year-old in the past week.

A 12-year-old Ferndale girl was charged with stealing money from a disabled elderly woman’s apartment April 8.

The girl is accused of stealing four $2 bills from a tin box while the 79-year-old resident helplessly watched.