Boy, 12, charged in brutal Stamford robbery

STAMFORD -- A Stamford sixth-grader who is a suspected gang member was charged Tuesday in the brutal beating and robbery of a 39-year-old immigrant on the city's West Side earlier this month.

The youth, 12, whose name has not been released because of his age, was charged with second-degree robbery and second-degree assault. He was being held at the Juvenile Detention Center in Bridgeport.

Lt. Diedrich Hohn said the youth was with four other males who in early June robbed and badly injured a Hispanic man on Alden Street. Police said the boy may be part of a gang that has been targeting Hispanic immigrants in robberies that left several people badly injured.

Hohn said the victim was lured by a woman to the area of 23 Alden St. on the night of June 1, possibly to buy some marijuana. The 12-year-old appeared on the scene, punched the man in the face and kept beating him while he tried to flee.

Then four other young men joined the attack before taking the man's money and fleeing down Stillwater Avenue, Hohn said.

When police found the man, he was suffering from severe eye and facial injuries and also had multiple broken ribs, Hohn said. The injury to one of the man's eyes was so severe he had to go to a specialist for surgery at a New York City hospital, Hohn said.

"They really pummeled this guy. I haven't seen anything like this for a long time," said Hohn, who supervises the department's major crime squad.

Police determined the pre-teen's identity after the robbery victim spotted the young man in front of the McDonald's on Bedford Street on June 15. After police obtained a copy of the youth's school yearbook, the victim picked out the student's picture and identified him as the robber who initially approached him and began beating him.

Hohn said the youth is not very big and may have used brass knuckles in the assault.

The lieutenant said the same gang may be responsible for several other robberies on the West Side that also have involved serious injuries. Some robberies may not have been reported because immigrants who have been targeted in the street robberies may not want to go to police, fearing they might be deported.

Hohn said he was very confident that more arrests will be made in the cases.