Teen Charged After Four Robbery Attempts in 15 Minutes

A Milwaukee teenager faces a charge of attempted armed robbery after he demanded money Wednesday from three boys and a man, and threatened them all with what they all believed to be a knife.

John William Key of Milwaukee was charged Friday in Milwaukee County Circuit Court and could face up to 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $50,000.

All four incidents took place within no more than two blocks of the the corner of Wauwatosa and West North avenues and occurred over about 15 minutes, beginning about 4 p.m.

The four victims – three students from Wauwatosa, ages 11, 13 and 14, and a 66-year-old Milwaukee man – all thought Key was threatening them with a real switchblade knife. It was in fact a "facsimile weapon," looking identical to a switchblade but concealing a comb instead of a blade.

The three boys all said they feared for their lives, but the adult victim, while he was, he said, "kind of tense," kept his cool and responded with a warning that he was carrying a concealed gun – which was a bluff.

Calvin Shields Jr. told Patch in an interview Friday that he was just leaving , 7501 W. North Ave., and walking to his car when he passed by Key.

"Like my usual self, I speak to people," Shields said. "I said something like, 'How you doing, little brother?'

"And he said something back like, 'You don't know me, why are you talking to me?' I just kept walking and said, 'Brother, that's all right, everything's cool.'

"Well, he followed me, and I saw him pull the knife – I thought it was a knife – out of his pocket."

Shield's said that Key threatened him and asked him for $3.

"That's when I said to him, 'I have a concealed carry permit and I am armed.'

"But I didn't have a gun. I said that just to kind of freeze him for a moment until I got to my car."

Shields said he continued to talk to Keys from his car, using "some choice words."

"I told him he was going to get hurt one of these days. I said, 'You're bringing a knife to a gunfight.'"

Shields drove away but circled the area for a few minutes looking for a police car to hail because, he said, he is frequently in the area and often sees squad cars nearby.

He did not find police, but after a few minutes he saw Key again and again spoke to him, saying "I'm not going to let you get away with this."

Again he drove away from Key, but giving up on finding a squad car, he called 911 and reported the attempted robbery. A few minutes more and he was coming back south on Wauwatosa Avenue and spotted two officers. He pulled over, honked his horn and pointed Key out to them.

Key was arrested on the northwest corner of Wauwatosa and North, in front of Longfellow.

Boys accosted one after the other

During the interim, though, Key had approached the three boys one after the other with the same threat and demand for money. The incidents came so close together in time and distance police were still not absolutely certain Friday in what order they happened.

The 14-year-old victim told police he had been walking north along Wauwatosa Avenue after wrestling practice and was nearing Meineke Avenue when Key came up behind him said, “What are you looking at?” He turned and said, “Nothing,” then realized that Key had what he thought was a knife in his hand.

He said Key opened the blade and said, “Do you got any money?” He emptied his pockets to show he had nothing, and Key said, “You have 30 seconds to get out of my sight."

The victim ran toward home but soon saw his mother in her car and joined her, and she also dialed 911.

The 13-year-old victim was walking on the north side of the 7400 block of West North Avenue, in front of the Lutheran Home. Again, Key approached the victim, pulled the switchblade look-alike and demanded money. This victim also turned out his pockets and was told to run.

The 11-year-old boy was just south of North Avenue at Rozmus Way, in the 2200 block of Wauwatosa Avenue, when Key approached him and said, “What the (expletive) are you looking at?”

The victim ignored him and kept walking. Key followed, produced the comb/knife and demanded money. The victim said he didn’t have any and the robber told him to “Run!” He did, as fast as he could, to his home two blocks south. His mother also called police.

Shields said that when police arrested Key, "He tried to play it off, like, 'It’s just a comb, it’s just a comb, it’s not a real knife.'

"Then he went for his pocket, but you know, you don't do that with police, you don't go for your pocket. They grabbed him and handcuffed him."

Key, who gave his address as a group home on Martin Luther King Drive, told police that his grandfather had given him the switchblade comb, and that he was going to take a bus to Mayfair Mall "to have some fun with it."

Seeing a lot of kids around the corner of North and Wauwatosa, though, he got off the bus "to go play with these kids or mess with this man."

Lt. Gerald Witkowski said police forwarded all four armed robbery reports to the District Attorney's office, but that he was for now being charged on only one count, the robbery of Shields.

"The other three will be read into the record, though," Witkowski said. "It was decided to charge him only with the robbery of the adult victim to spare the young boys from having to take part."

Key is actually fortunate that in four attempts he did not get any money or property from any of his victims. Had he, the "attempted" would have been dropped and he would have faced 40 years prison time instead of 20.

Shields said that even though his gun bluff worked and he escaped unharmed, he wanted to see Key arrested "to let him know how dangerous it was."

"If I had had a gun, I might have shot him," Shields said. "I won't say I was scared, but I had some high anxiety.

"I probably wouldn't have killed him – it's just not in my nature to do that. I'd probably have shot him in the leg."