ORLANDO, Fla. -- A 12-year-old boy made his first court appearance Tuesday afternoon in connection with a Walgreens robbery. It was clear that Shawn Roderick has plenty of family members who care deeply for him and, whatever went wrong, he does not appear to be a troublemaking child who's been neglected and driven somehow to a life of crime.

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SLIDESHOW: Images Of The Scene, Young Suspect
READ DOCUMENT: Arrest Affidavit For Shawn Roderick (PDF)
CRIME PROBLEM: 2,700 Fla. Juvenile Offenders Are 11 Years Old Or Younger

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"You know what, there's two sides to every story and he's actually a sweet kid. Everybody probably hears that about their kids, but I think that everybody out here with a camera or a microphone in my face, this time you all might have this one wrong," said the boy's father, Shawn Roderick, Sr.

As young Shawn's parents left, they expressed their distress over a puzzling alleged crime. The 12-year-old looked like the little boy that he is as he walked into court and his parents pleaded for his release.

"He will be under 24-hour adult surveillance. We also ask that he be placed under a monitoring system so that the court will be pleased as to his location, as well as the parents," the boy's father told the judge Tuesday.

But prosecutors argued that he's a danger to the community, especially since he allegedly escaped his own home in the middle of the night to commit an armed robbery with two plastic bb guns.

"Are you upset that your son is still being detained?" WFTV reporter Steve Barrett asked.

"Would you be upset if your son was detained?" the boy's father replied.

Even police describe a boy who did what he did because he wanted to help his mother by purchasing his own school clothes. In the end, Judge Robert Egan decided the boy and the community are safest with Shawn in detention for now and his parents had to say goodbye.

"I told him, 'I love him.' I love that kid. I love my son," the boy's father said as he left the court.

For now, Shawn is represented by the public defender, but his parents told the judge they would find their own attorney to represent the boy.

Roderick is charged with robbery, false imprisonment and resisting arrest without violence.