JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Two Jacksonville students said they were held at gunpoint Thursday morning while walking to school on Ribault Scenic Drive.
The students were walking separately, but both incidents happened a short distance from Ribault High School and two other schools that are within a block of each other.
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office is actively looking for three young men who reportedly held the two teens at gunpoint and attempted to steal their cellphones.
The teens' parents told News4Jax they can't believe the robberies happened so close to schools.
Because the robbers have not been caught, News4Jax is not identifying the teens or their parents.
The mother of one of the victims said he called her Thursday morning and was very upset.
"He started crying. I said, 'Babe, I'm on my way.' When I got to school, I was like, 'What happened?' He said, 'I was robbed. Someone pulled a gun on me and took my phone.' I said, 'When and where?!'"
The teen said it happened along the sidewalk between Ribualt High School and Ribault Middle School. The woman said her son told her he saw three guys walking toward him, and one of them asked if he could use the teen's phone. He agreed. He said that's when the guy snatched it, and when he tried to get it back, one of the guys pulled a gun.
"I thought, 'Is it really that serious over a phone? Do I really have to feel this unsafe walking to school?'" the teen said.
"Somebody is actually trying to hurt my baby. That was it," his mother said. "These are somebody's children that are over here that you're messing with over a phone."
The three young men didn't stop there. According to a police report, they came across another teen walking with his sister and asked to borrow his cellphone. Same story. Same outcome.
"They took his phone, his headphone set. They tried to take his tennis shoe," the second victim's mother said. "They threatened him. They said if he told anybody they would kill him and his sisters."
The second teen said the robbery happened within walking distance of the back entrance of Ribault High School. News4Jax counted and it was about 57 steps from the school property.
But the Duval County School District said because it didn't happen on school property, the investigation has to be conducted by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, which increased its presence Thursday afternoon near all three schools.
Both victims' parents hope police will continue to keep an eye out and that whoever did this will be caught.
"Consequences happen to everyone," one of the victims said. "You may not be caught doing something now, and you may not get punished now, but it will come around to you."
According to the incident report, the three young men were last seen in a burgundy Buick with handicapped plates. Anyone with information about who the robbers are is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS.