9-Year-Old’s Lemonade Stand Robbed At Gunpoint, Community Bands Together

Summer is the time for refreshing beverages. Also, it’s apparently the time for reprehensible human beings doing astoundingly terrible things. People get thirsty when it’s hot out. This past year, the bar industry sold almost 200 million kegs of beer. Beer may be a lucrative summer beverage, but this North Carolina 9-year-old isn’t quite of age to be slinging pints of lager, so he set up the quintessential summertime lemonade stand.

His sign displaying organic lemonade for 25 cents per cup, young Mark David wanted to save up for a lawnmower. Everything was going alright until a masked teen approached Mark’s stand, put a gun to his stomach, and demanded his lemonade earnings. Not arguing with a mask-wearing gunman, Mark gave up the money and the robber fled the scene.

“In today’s world, people are very bold. Criminals are very bold. This is a new low,” said a Union County spokesperson.

Truly, to go out of your way to rob a 9-year-old at gunpoint really is a new low. The police were called and investigated the scene, then ended up finding the discarded metal box from Mark’s stand and the handgun in question, which ended up being a BB gun. Still. Low. The robber got away with less than $20.

Mark wasn’t hurt but was super bummed out. He’s an ambitious young lad who really wanted to save up for his lawnmower, with which he aimed to start his own lawn mowing business. This hardly deterred him, and the community rallied around him, offering monetary donations that he politely declined.

However, he didn’t decline one surprise. His story caught traction and a local Lowe’s showed up the next day with a little donation for Mark: the brand new lawnmower that he had been saving for. Naturally, he was ecstatic. Slated to increase $10 billion in 2018, Mark is determined to get his share in the home and garden market. Now he’s properly outfitted with just the equipment to do so.

He’s since moved his lemonade stand to a community pool and plans to continue selling refreshments to whoever is interested. The suspect in the robbery was quickly apprehended and arrested.

?I am very proud of the work our deputies and detectives did to identify the suspect in this case. They have worked tirelessly to bring closure for the victim, his family and the St. John?s Forest community,” said the Union County Sherriff.

Mark is a resilient kid and it’s always heartwarming to see a community support each other, restoring faith in humanity one bit of goodness at a time.