By OLIVIA BERGMEIER
Salina Post
Salina Police Department officers reported to Central Mall yesterday evening for a report of a battery at the AMC Theatres. When officers arrived, they found another crime unfolding in the parking lot in front of Dunham's Sports.
According to SPD Capt. James Feldman, officers dispatched to the Central Mall at 6:20 p.m., and once they arrived, they communicated with a 14-year-old boy and his parents about a possible criminal threat.
"It was reported that the male [the 14-year-old boy] had been on the other side of the mall when he and several friends began being chased around the mall by three other subjects," Feldman said. "While running, he ended up calling his mother saying he's being chased and then he went into Dunham's."
Feldman said shortly after the boy called his mother, she arrived and told her son to exit the store and meet her in the parking lot. Once he left Dunham's, one of the three subjects, a 17-year-old boy, confronted him.
The mother and stepfather of the boy then stepped between the two children to de-escalate the confrontation when the 17-year-old began threatening the family.
"He began making threats toward them, including that he knows where they live and he will get them," Feldman said. "At the time, he was wearing a backpack and reached in like he had a gun."
As the 17-year-old subject heard sirens, he ran from the scene north into a residential area. Feldman said an off-duty detective who heard the sirens nearby eventually apprehended the suspect and found no gun in the backpack on his person.
"No gun was located, and it is believed that no gun was involved," Feldman said.
The boy did not resist arrest, and officers requested charges of aggravated assault, criminal threat, battery and possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.
After his arrest, officers transported the boy to juvenile detention in Junction City. Feldman said there may be future arrests related to this case.
Salina Post will update the story as more information becomes available.