A Fallbrook middle schooler is recovering and the sheriff’s department is investigating after a classmate attacked him in class on Monday. NBC 7’s Shandel Menezes reports.
A middle school student in Fallbrook is recovering and the sheriff's department is investigating after a classmate attacked him in class on Monday.
The attack was caught on video and has been circulating online. The video begins with a student standing over another student's desk. A few seconds pass, and then punches start flying — at least 10 of them back to back.
“It was very hard to watch,” Sara Strange, the mother of the boy who was attacked, told NBC 7. “It's still hard to watch. That's my baby. Watching somebody just beat him in the head like that ... He was totally blindsided.”
Both of the boys are 13 years old.
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The Fallbrook Union Elementary School District released a statement saying the attack stemmed from hard feelings over the weekend, when a group of friends played the "body shot game." This social media trend encourages people to let someone else hit them in the stomach, record it and post it online.
Strange said a game should have never lead to an ambush like that.
“I feel like the parents should be held accountable because I don't think they're getting what they need at home. There definitely needs to be some consequences," Strange said.
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Dr. Alex Gonzalez, the principal at Potter Junior High School, sent a letter out to families addressing the video and the concern it sparked across the school. He also said that any violent act leads to suspension for the California Education Code.
According to the district, staff took immediate action, and the students involved were not back in school the following day.
Strange said her son’s head and neck are sore and that after some X-rays, he’ll find out if his swollen hand is broken too. She also said he’s traumatized and that she’s keeping him home from school for at least the rest of the week.
“We should all be able to send our kids to school and feel that they're safe,” she said. “I don't even feel that he's safe now because this happened in the classroom.”
The Fallbrook Sheriff's Substation said that as part of the investigation, deputies did welfare checks at both students’ homes and neither student wanted to press charges. However, Strange said she later decided to press charges.
A sheriff's juvenile detective will conduct a follow-up investigation if needed, the department said.
