CCTV:January 15/09.VALLEJO, CA, The after school attack was captured on school surveillance cameras and has already led to a six arrests.
But, the teenager at the receiving end of the beating, 17-year-old Bryant Lee, is still in the hospital in serious condition.
The fight happened in a quad area at Bethel High School after school on Thursday. It started after Lee, who was simply waiting More.. for basketball practice to start, tried to help another female student.
He can be seen in the video wearing a white hooded sweatshirt. The girl had apparently been punched in the face by one of the suspects.
But, once Lee interrupted that fight, the suspect called five of his friends on the phone. When they arrived they attacked Lee.
They can be seen in the video taking turns punching and even choking the 17-year old. He was on the ground for most of the attack which lasted 12 minutes.
After they beat Bryant Lee unconscious they went back to the original girl they were hitting and started punching her again before finally leaving campus. "You just don't expect six adults to just show up and start beating on our kids like this.
It was a cowardly attack for six of them to swarm this young man and beat him unconscious like this," said district spokesperson Jason Hodge. "It's just horrible to see a kid being brutalized like that, unconscious, and being beaten like that.
It's not a good thing to see," added Lt. Lee Horton with the Vallejo Police Department. Police quickly made six arrests based on the surveillance video.
Four of the suspects are related, all part of the Tili family. According to Vallejo Police, the Tilis are a well-known family associated with violent crimes in the area. The other two suspects are an unrelated 18- and 16-year old.
All of the suspects have been charged with attempted murder. Lee, is slowly improving and was taken off a ventilator Saturday.
His mother says Bryant Lee has a brain injury. She is not sure how long it is going to take him to recover and the whole experience has been traumatic for the family. "I'm much better than when I was when it first happened. Like I said, I don't know all the details about it. I'm just trying to concentrate on getting him well," she told ABC7.
She says her son is a good student and he plans on going to college next year in michigan. School officials admit afterschool security is basically non-existent on campus and some parents think this incident is proof it is necessary. "That's kinda scary and I'm worried because my daughter stays late.
There is always practice. She's in the band," said parent Marrieta Yu. District officials say they will look at adding more security on campus, but point out that their budget is tight. They will be offering counseling to students next week. «