Something that should feel simple and innocent turned scary in seconds. Police say two kids running a lemonade stand in South Boston were robbed at gunpoint — by other kids.

Police said they responded to the reported armed robbery at 157 West Ninth Street, near E Street, around 4:44 p.m. on Wednesday, but two male youths had already fled the scene, according to police.

The victims, two juveniles, told officers they were operating their lemonade stand when the suspects made several passes by before approaching them and asking whether Apple Pay would be accepted as payment. Before the victims could even respond, police say the suspects grabbed their box of money, and one of them displayed a black firearm in his waistband.

Both suspects ran away in the direction of Dorchester Street, police added. No arrests have been made. Police released several blurry images and surveillance video of the two suspects walking near the lemonade stand.

Jennifer Byrne, the mother of the two kids, said the incident left her children traumatized.

“My daughter called me, I’m at work. She was in hysterics, crying, saying, ‘Somebody put a gun to us and took all of our money,'” she said. “They noticed two kids with masks over their face across the street they kept coming back and forth.”

She said the two youths went up to her kids and asked if they took Apple Pay, then lifted up their shirt and flashed a gun.

“My daughter said when they said ‘We’re taking it all’ she put her arms up in the air and said, ‘Just take it. Just take it.'”

A neighbor said they saw the suspects with the money box on Grimes Street. When they spotted her, she said they dropped it, grabbed the $50 inside and ran.

“My son is 12,” Byrne said. “He said one was smaller, he’d guess 10 or 11, and the other child looked a little older, maybe 14.”

She said her children weren’t hurt, but the family is shaken.

“My daughter, the youngest one, she’s nervous to walk the two blocks to her bus stop,” Byrne said.

The incident, which is being actively investigated by detectives, began circulating in Southie and on social media later Wednesday, according to Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn, who contacted the police department to confirm the reports.

Flynn said in a Facebook post just before 10 p.m. that he was troubled by this serious incident, and that it cannot be downplayed or ignored.

“When someone robs a lemonade stand, you can’t continue saying we’re the safest city in America,” he said.

“Having younger people involved in this activity is troubling and it speaks to the work that needs to be done,” state Sen. Nick Collins added.