A 16-year-old boy who, police say, attempted to rob a man by using a fake handgun was shot by his intended target who produced a legal firearm, police officials said.
A 16-year-old boy was shot in Kensington early Monday, when, police said, he attempted to rob a man while using a fake gun.
The intended victim, however, was armed with a legal handgun and turned the tables on the teen, shooting the boy in the leg, officials said.
According to Philadelphia Police Inspector D.F. Pace, the incident happened as a 21-year-old man was walking along the 2200 block of Emerald Street in Kensington at about 11:03 p.m. on Sunday night.
At that time, Pace said, the man was approached by two would-be robbers, including a 16-year-old boy who pressed -- what he told the victim was -- a gun to the man's back and told him he was being robbed.
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The boy told the victim to turn over "his keys, his wallet and any other valuables that he had on him," Pace told NBC10.
"At that point, the victim began to produce the items that were demanded by the robber, but he was also in possession of a legal firearm," said Pace.
As he produced the items that the teen had demanded, Pace said the victim produced his firearm and turned, shooting the 16-year-old boy once in the leg.
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The other would-be thief escaped on foot, Pace said.
Pace said the boy was taken to a nearby hospital where he was being treated for a gunshot wound to the leg and was listed in stable condition.
The victim, Pace said, was able to collect his belongings from the street after they were dropped and he was uninjured in the incident.
Responding officers to the scene also recovered a toy handgun that, Pace said, is believed to have been used in the attempted robbery.
"After the victim opened fire on the robbers, that gun was dropped and it was recovered by police and it is now in police custody and we now know it to be a fake gun," said Pace. "But again, having been pressed into the victim's back, there would have been no way for the victim to have known that."
Police said the injured teen was taken into police custody.
The second robbery suspect is still being sought by police and, Pace said, an investigation into the incident is ongoing.
In an update Monday morning, police said the second individual sought in this incident has been described as being a man who wore a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt at the time of the attempted robbery.
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