Teens' Claremont gun terror
A teenager had a gun pressed to his head and another was told he would have his brains blown out in two separate hold-ups just an hour apart in Claremont.
Western Suburbs detectives are investigating the May 24 incidents, which occurred in daylight.
In the first incident, a teenager was waiting at Claremont train station about 11.20am when he was approached by four men.
A man wearing a white LA Lakers basketball singlet ordered the 15-year-old to hand over his phone or he would be shot.
The group then stalked the boy to the end of the platform where the same man lifted his singlet to reveal a pistol tucked into his shorts and allegedly said: “Give me your phone or I’ll shoot your brains out”.
The pack got on the train with the boy but disembarked one station later without the phone.
About an hour later a 15-year-old boy was returning from a school soccer game when he was approached by a group of six men in the Hungry Jack’s car park in Claremont.
When the boy refused to hand over his iPhone, one of the attackers patted down his pockets before removing the phone.
When the victim asked for it back he had a gun pressed to his head before the men ran off with the phone.
Det-Sen. Sgt Shandell Castledine said it wasn’t clear if the firearm was real but the terror both victims felt was.
She said the weapon was described as having a sliding mechanism rather than a revolver, similar to a police-issued Glock pistol.
“If somebody put a gun to my head (whether it was real) would be the last thing I’d be worried about,” Det-Sen. Sgt Castledine said.
“If people are brandishing weapons to put intimidation and fear in the minds of others, it’s a very serious offence.”
The man who brandished the gun is described as being in his late teens or early 20s, dark skinned, about 180cm tall with brown hair and blonde tips. He had a piercing just below the centre of his bottom lip and wore a white LA Lakers singlet with the number 24 and “BRYANT” written on the back.
A second man is described as dark skinned, about 1.68m tall, with a solid build and short black hair. He wore a green and brown camouflage jacket.
Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers.
