A Pennsylvania girl spoke at a school board meeting and described witnessing a 13-year-old student brutally assault a classmate with a Stanley cup in their school cafeteria last week, saying that she had warned the school of the student’s alleged "hit list" hours before the bloody attack.
The student addressed the school board during a public comment section of the North Penn School District meeting on Thursday, a day after a student allegedly came up behind the 12-year-old victim in the cafeteria of Pennbrook Middle School and repeatedly hit her on the head with the metal cup.
"I don’t get how you couldn’t have stopped it," the child said. "It was five hours from when I told you it was going to happen and when it happened. It was five full hours. I don’t get how you couldn’t have stopped it."
She said she spoke to a counselor about the accused student’s alleged "hit list," on which she said she was also included, but said she was told, "Don’t worry, it’s not going to happen; we have it under control."
"But clearly you didn’t," she told the school board.
Surveillance video of the incident viewed by FOX29 Philadelphia showed the 12-year-old victim’s head bleeding. She was taken to a hospital after the alleged assault with serious injuries.
The student went on to describe to the school board how students began "screaming and running" when the incident unfolded.
She said she heard "these terrible loud bangs of the Stanley bouncing off her [classmate's] head" and saw the accused student grab the victim's hair and begin "hitting her against the table."
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The child described how there was "blood going everywhere," an image that she cannot stop thinking about.
"And we had to watch them take her out with blood dripping down her face," she told the school board. "And I will never forget that. Laying in bed last night I just kept repeating it in my head."
Both students and parents who spoke during the meeting questioned why students were kept in the cafeteria for 28 minutes and watched the blood get cleaned up from the tables and floor.
"We shouldn’t have had to sit there and just watch them clean up her blood with the mop," the student said. "Watch her repeatedly yelling that ‘I’m going to murder you,’ and just hitting her with the Stanley."
School officials sent a note to parents on Wednesday night, saying that resources would be available to students who witnessed the incident and the principal planned to meet with the students Thursday to discuss the incident.
Despite parents questioning the school board officials about the latest incident, prior incidents and security measures at the school, North Penn School Board Director Christian Fusco said the district is unable to comment at this time because of "everyone’s due process rights and the law."
