This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

STOCKTON --

Stockton Police are searching for a group of suspects much younger than usual. Officers said a man was mugged by a group of preteen males in the Weberstown Mall parking lot.

"And during this attack some of the suspects actually held our victim's arms and then he described a 7-year-old juvenile male coming up punching him in the face and stealing his iPhone," said Officer Joe Silva, a spokesperson for the Stockton Police Department.

Shoppers at Weberstown are shocked a child that young and small would be involved in robbery.

"It's scary I can't believe that. I've heard of 13 year olds but 7?! ... My granddaughter is only 6 she's only like this big, I can't imagine her punching someone, robbing someone, she wouldn't even think about that," said Lanny Brown, who was shopping at Weberstown Sunday.

"At 7 years old they should be by themselves anyway," said Frank Carrillo, another shopper.

But Stockton Police said the child had help from a group of black juveniles ranging in age from 10 to 15.

"Instead of going out robbing and attacking people, these kids should be involved in positive youth actives, such as sports, music, events at school... Reminder for parents, you need to ask questions, you need to know where your children are at at all times, you need to know who they're hanging out with," Silva told FOX40.

Silva believes someone in the community will soon find out who is responsible.

"A lot of times when juvenile suspects are involved, they like to brag whether it's to a brother sister cousin classmate and we need those people to do the right thing and step up to the plate," Silva said.

37.957702 -121.29078