Trending

12-year-old arrested for robbing wife of Syracuse University basketball coach Jim Boeheim

Wife of Syracuse University basketball coach robbed outside mall File photo. (kali9/Getty Images/iStockphoto)
(kali9/Getty Images/iStockphoto)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A preteen boy has been arrested and charged after the wife of Syracuse University men’s basketball coach Jim Boeheim was robbed outside of a mall.

The suspect in the case has not been identified because of his age.

>> Read more trending news

In a statement, police told the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle that the boy was charged with second-degree robbery, fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon and fourth-degree grand larceny.

Juli Boeheim was sitting in her car in the parking lot of the Destiny USA mall on March 1 at around 2 p.m. when she told police the boy approached her car and asked if he could call his mother, WSTM reported. The 12-year-old is accused of then pulling out a gun, aiming it at Boeheim and taking her phone and purse. Investigators told the station they later determined the gun was an airsoft gun.

Police told the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle the boy was with three other men, and they all drove away in a stolen car. That car was later found on the east side of the city.

Speaking about what happened on a radio show, Jim Boeheim said of his wife, “She’s definitely shook up. I mean, this isn’t television, it’s not movies. It’s real life. Somebody puts a gun in your face. She’s handling it well, better than I probably would or most people, I think. But it’s not easy. She’s a little shook, but I think she’s doing much better than could be expected,” CBS Sports reported.

Jim Boeheim told the radio show, “I think the thing that helped her was it was a kid … Her main thought was, ‘Let’s help this kid.’ That’s what she does, we do with our foundation. Try to help these kids. That was the first thing she said, ‘I feel like I want to help this kid.’ But that’s the way she thinks.”

0