A Monifieth shopkeeper has described the moment a 12-year-old boy allegedly pointed a replica gun at his colleague and told them to empty the till.
It is claimed the youngster went to the Spar shop on Ashgrove on Monifieth on Saturday night and brandished the fake weapon.
Police Scotland has confirmed the boy has been reported to the Youth Justice Management Unit over the incident.
Owner Shubnum Hussain – who was not in the shop at the time – said her colleague was “as white as a ghost” after having the imitation firearm pulled on her.
‘He calmly walked out the shop’
She said: “He told the staff member ’empty everything in the till’ before he calmly walked back out of the shop.
“It was clearly planned as we’ve known this youngster to come in before and he doesn’t wear a face mask but he was on this occasion and was dressed in black.
“The weapon was in the band of his jogging bottoms. We thought it was likely it was fake but it did look like a replica gun.
“How are we to know it couldn’t have discharged something?
“My staff member was as white as a ghost after it happened and I called 999 as she was in shock.
“This isn’t something you expect to see happening in Monifieth, it’s something you expect to see in a movie.”
Ms Hussain says the boy returned to the store this week.
She added: “We were worried for a number of reasons, was he going to do this to another business or was he planning on coming back here?
Reported for attempted robbery
“Given we knew he was quite young from the CCTV we didn’t know how were going to tackle the situation if it happened again.
“He came back into the store minus the face mask to buy a drink on Monday and we called 999 again to explain the young lad who’d had the gun was back in the shop.”
A spokeswoman for Police Scotland added: “We received a call around 7.45pm on Saturday July 10 in relation to an attempted robbery at a shop on Ashgrove, Monifieth.
“Inquiries were carried out and a 12-year-old boy has been reported to the Youth Justice Management Unit.”