Five teenagers have been charged in the brutal beating of a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. The attack was caught on video and shows a lone teenager being punched and kicked by half a dozen students.
The victim suffered a skull fracture and other injuries as a result of the attack. The incident occurred on Dec. 12 at the same school where one of America’s worst school shootings took place.
The fifth teenager linked to the attack surrendered himself to the Coral Springs Police Department on Monday morning. The police are still looking for one more suspect. The arrests follow the identification of the alleged attackers by officials at the Parkland school, and the subsequent acquisition of the arrest affidavits by police on Thursday. Four of the arrested teens currently attend Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, while the fifth is a student at the nearby Coral Glades High School.
The video of the attack, which was first posted by TMZ, shows the group of teens repeatedly kicking and punching the lone student until he is hurled headfirst onto the pavement. The victim had not been identified by the police, and it is unknown why he was singled out by the attackers. The identity of the arrested teenagers has been confirmed as Sylvester Hicks, aged 16, Jahmeer Beauziel, aged 17, Caleb Hensley, aged 17, Jordan Thompson, aged 16, and Chinua Leefatt, aged 15.
The arrest of the suspects in the violent beating highlights the increasing problem of violence in American schools. The attack on the student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School occurred nearly six years after the devastating school shooting that left 17 people dead and injured dozens more.
The school has since taken steps to increase security, but this new incident shows that there is still a long way to go in ensuring the safety of students.