A stunning admission from a Baltimore mother whose 17-year-old son was shot by police - saying he needs to have a gun to protect himself. Some argue she shouldn't have let her son put himself in danger.

Kieria Franklin is reigniting the debate this week over parent accountability when a child is accused of a crime.

Franklin's son, 17-year-old Mekhi Franklin, shot by a Baltimore police officer three weeks ago, is now facing charges, including first-degree assault. Police say he was shot during a foot chase while he was holding a stolen 9-millimeter handgun.

His mother spoke out this week about the shooting but was also confronted with questions about her responsibility, and her accountability.

"How am I accountable for (for the gun) he has on him? That's not bad parenting, that's not the parent's fault. How can you blame that on the parent," said Franklin.

But Rev. P. M. Smith, longtime pastor at Huber Memorial Church in Loch Raven and a former defense attorney, believes there is a level of accountability for parents when children do wrong.

"You're feeding them, you're clothing them. And you don't know where they are, you don't know what they're bringing in the house, you don't know what they're carrying out of the house? That is a situation where parents lack accountability because they're not handling their responsibility," said Smith.

As the juvenile crime rate continues to climb in Baltimore many parents are desperately searching for a cure.

Smith blames broken homes for much of the growing crime problem.

"They always say it starts in the home, which it does but what does the home look like? You never know what's going on in their home," said one city resident.

"My son is 17 years old He's not a five-year-old little kid. So, at the end of the day, it's only so much I can do," said Franklin.

"That may be true. But when you have a young person who you know that's heading in the wrong direction, you ask, you seek, you demand, you get all the help you can. Whether it's an uncle, whether it's a stepfather, whether it's a grandfather, whether it's juvenile services, you get all the help you can," said Smith.

Regarding Mehki Franklin, he's out of the hospital and has been moved to the Central Booking and Intake Center where he's waiting for a hearing that will decide whether or not his case will be moved to juvenile court.