Boy, 12, armed with kitchen knife makes robbery demand

A PRE-TEEN boy armed with a kitchen knife tried to force a service station worker into activating gift cards in a brazen robbery early this morning.

ON SCENE: A boy, 12, is alleged to have held up a Harristown service station. Picture: Nev Madsen

A PRE-TEEN boy armed with a kitchen knife tried to force a service station worker into activating gift cards in a brazen robbery early this morning.

The 12-year-old boy is alleged to have walked into the 7-Eleven store on the corner of South St and Drayton Rd about 8am, and collected a handful of iTunes gift cards.

"The young male person has then attended the counter and requested the console operator activate those gift cards while producing a knife," Toowoomba Child Protection Investigation Unit Officer-in-Charge Detective Senior Sergeant Renee Garske said.

The worker is understood to have complied and the boy fled the area.

He was arrested at a nearby residence soon after.

Snr-Sgt Garske said the worker was left shaken after the incident but was not physically injured.

"I think it's an opportunistic incident that has occurred with this young male person," she said.

"He's certainly been cooperative with police and his parents have been very supportive and offering assistance to deter this young person from committing any further offences in the future."

The busy service station was closed to customers for more than an hour as police investigated the incident.

The boy was dealt with under provisions of the Young Justices Act.

He was not known to authorities before the incident.

Originally published as Boy, 12, armed with kitchen knife makes robbery demand