A group of juveniles who fled a Richmond restaurant without paying their food bill were busted by police after they returned to the scene of the crime in order to retrieve a backpack one of them left behind that contained a firearm, according to police.
The incident unfolded Sunday, Feb. 12, when police responded to a restaurant in the 3400 block of Klose Way on a report that employees found a backpack containing a loaded firearm with an extended magazine.
The backpack had apparently belonged to a group of juveniles who had been eating at the restaurant. One of the suspects appeared to have left the backpack behind “in their haste to leave,” according to police. When employees of the restaurant attempted to identify who the backpack belonged to, the firearm was found inside.
Officers arrived on scene at nearly the same time as a group of five juveniles returned to retrieve the backpack, police said.
“As officers arrived on the scene, they fled into a ravine,” police said.
All five juveniles were detained after a brief foot chase. A police K9 and his handler searched the area in which the juveniles had fled and recovered the backpack and firearm, which the juveniles had ditched during the chase, according to police.
One juvenile was booked into juvenile hall, and the other four were released on a citation to their parent.
