The stand is a ready-to-assemble, white counter space with nine green compartments and a yellow-and-white-striped overhang that says, “Lemonade.” It was a Christmas gift for the four girls running it: 13-year-old Leah Sleeper, 10-year-old Zaylani Juarez and 6-year-olds Layla DeWitt and Gabriela Sleeper. Sunday was only the second time they had used their gift to sell refreshments to neighbors.
According to Grace DeWitt, the suspected robber stopped by once before the robbery and told the girls he forgot to bring cash. When he came back, he asked for a cup of lemonade. “He said he wanted change for something for 25 cents, and he wanted change for $5,” Grace DeWitt said. “Then he was like, ‘Oh, I’m going to buy one more thing.’”
Instead of picking out one of the assorted food items laid out on the stand, Dewitt said, the man reached over the counter and grabbed a stack of $5, $10 and $20 bills from the open cash register. The man then ran across the street and entered a blue SUV with three other people, according to Grace Dewitt.
“We were just like in shock,” said Zaylani, who is one of Grace DeWitt’s nieces. “We weren’t prepared for it at all.”