Metropolitan Police Department officers arrested at least one juvenile on the street near H Street Northeast on Saturday afternoon, sparking outrage from a small crowd that gathered on the scene and across social media, where a video of the incident circulated widely over the weekend.

Footage shows several police officers surrounding and then handcuffing a child. A small crowd yells at an officer as he leads the boy to a police vehicle, which eventually drives off. “He is a child! This is not okay,” someone says in the background of the video.

Officers were responding to a call about a robbery allegedly committed by a group of children.

A young boy said he was approached by several boys who assaulted him, stole his iPhone 7, and threatened him with a gun, according to D.C. Police. All of the suspects, five in total, ran northbound on 2nd Street NE from Massachusetts Ave NE after taking the victim’s phone, according to the police report.

MPD officers stopped several children nearby who matched a description from the victim, and later determined that two had been involved: a 13-year-old boy and a 10-year-old boy. Detectives recovered the stolen cellphone on the scene, according to the police report. Police did not initially find a gun, but later found a BB gun on the 800 block of 4th Street NE.

The 13 year old was immediately arrested on charges of armed robbery, according to police. What exactly happened to the 10 year old is less clear, though footage shows a young boy in handcuffs being placed in a police car. Bystanders identified the boy in the video as 10 years old, but DCist has not been able to independently confirm his age or identity.

According to MPD, officers did not arrest the 10 year old on scene. Instead, they placed him in the cruiser and drove him a block or two down the street, where he was released into the custody of his mother, according to Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen. Allen chairs the D.C. Council’s Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety and spoke with MPD about this incident, which happened in his ward. Police will issue what’s called a “custody order” for the 10 year old’s arrest, Allen says.

“After the identification process, officers realized one of the suspects was ten years old and, per general order, they made notification to their official who then notified Youth and Family Services (YFSD),” Brianna Jordan, a spokesperson for MPD, tells DCist in an email statement. The general order requires that officers contact the watch commander of YFSD before arresting a minor who is 12 or younger; the watch commander makes the ultimate decision about whether and when to arrest the child.

“After consideration, it was determined the ten year old would not be summarily arrested on the scene and that a custody order would be applied for by the investigating detective. YFSD came to the scene and assisted with notification to the parents, who were on the scene of this incident. Officers explained what occurred and the next steps to the 10-year-old juvenile’s mother on scene,” Jordan said, adding that members of the Youth Division offered to connect her son to services.

According to Jordan, the victim positively identified the 10 year old as the person who pointed the gun at him. It’s still unclear whether the 10 year old will be (or has been) arrested after the incident on Saturday.

Allen says that he was disturbed by the image of a young child with handcuffs placed on his wrists, but that he’s also disturbed by the details of the alleged crime. “I don’t ever want to see a 10 year old in handcuffs,” he says. “But I also never want to see a 10 year old with a gun in their hands, be it a real gun or a BB gun or a replica,” he says.

Allen says he plans to have conversations with MPD about the necessity of handcuffing a 10 year old child when taking them into custody.

“When I watch the video, I see what appears to be a 10 year old who is complying with police, and I see a little kid,” Allen says, clarifying that he doesn’t know what might have happened before the start of the video circulating on social media. “I don’t know all the details … but I think it’s worth having a conversation. Is putting a 10 year old’s hands behind their back the right thing to do?”

This story has been updated with new information from MPD about the BB gun police recovered on the scene, additional commentary from Councilmember Charles Allen, and to remove tweets that include video of the boy being placed in a police cruiser to protect his identity.