DAYTON — A middle schooler working to make summer money was robbed at gunpoint in Dayton, and now the community is helping him get through the trauma.
13-year-old King Lewis ran home when he and a friend got robbed while walking home from a convenience store.
“A truck cut them off, guys jumped out and put guns to them and told them to sign out of their iPhones or they would shoot them,” said James Lewis, the teen’s father.
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James said the group took the teen’s phones, snacks they’d got while taking a break from work and some cash.
He hates to think what else could have been lost.
“Absolutely horrible. It’s just too much. I don’t understand why someone would think to victimize kids like that,” he said.
The incident put a stop to King mowing grass for a couple of days.
King had been a summer entrepreneur, putting together a steady stream of paying clients for his lawnmowing service but losing some of that money and his phone was devastating.
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James was so upset about what happened to his son he posted what happened to Facebook.
People began reaching out to see if they could help, and the post went viral.
“I didn’t expect people to do what they did, but appreciate the love we’ve been getting on Facebook,” James said.
James said his son has always been a businessman, helping his sisters put together a lemonade stand when he was just 9, and he didn’t want King to be discouraged or stop cutting grass.
“At first, I didn’t want to go out no more but when my post went viral, I was back to myself,” King said.
Dayton police are handling the case, and if you have any information about the people responsible for the attack, they’d love to hear from you.
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