13-year-old boy died after getting his head knocked against a cement pillar during a nasty beat-down by two other teenagers at his California middle school, authorities said Wednesday.
Cellphone footage of the Sept. 16 attack at Moreno Valley Landmark Middle School shows the boy, identified as Diego, being hit in the face by one student and then sucker-punched on the side of the head by another.
The second blow sends him falling to the ground, his head hitting a pillar on the way down, according to the clip obtained by KTLA-5.
The first attacker can be seen hurrying over to punch Diego again while he’s on the ground.
Classmates told the outlet that Diego had been bullied at school and on social media.
He was pronounced clinically dead on Tuesday night “as a result of injuries sustained in the attack,” the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday.The two other boys, both also 13, were charged with suspicion of assault likely to produce great bodily injury in connection with the attack and remained at Riverside County Juvenile Hall. Officials didn’t say if charges against them would be increased since Diego’s death.
School administrators said the two students arrested didn’t have any previous behavior problems and were honor students.
The incident prompted outrage from parents about bullying at the school.
“This is a life-changing tragedy for everyone involved, including the staff and students at Landmark Middle School,” Moreno Valley Mayor Yxstian Gutierrez said, according to The Press-Enterprise.
The school district expressed its condolences to the victim’s family for the “devastating loss,” it said in a statement.
“As we mourn together, we also want to come together to find solutions and to take the necessary steps so that tragic incidents like this do not happen again,” district spokesperson Anahi Velasco said.
The family is planning on donating Diego’s organs “to transform this tragedy into the gift of life for other children,” the sheriff’s department said.
A vigil for Diego will be held at the school on Wednesday evening.
