Mom: Kids Attacked Son, Put Video On Facebook
(CBS) – A southwest suburban mother says her son was bullied, beaten, and it was all caught on video and posted on the Internet.
Punched in the face and pushed to the ground, seventh-grader Anthony Avila still bears the scars after he says four classmates piled on, tumbled and pummelled him.
It happened while Avila was walking home from school in Joliet on Monday.
"All I seen was just blood, blood everywhere, him crying," the boy's mother, Sandy Ayala, tells CBS 2's Pamela Jones.
She says it's just the latest in a string of bullying incidents that began when her son started school at Gompers Junior High near the end of 2013.
"They just started calling me names, 'The Devil Worshipper,' because I was so quiet so much. And it just kept on escalating," Anthony says.
He says he tried to end the abuse, agreeing to fight the youngster he calls the ringleader.
But then others jumped him, he says. One of the boys shot cell phone video that later surfaced on Facebook, he says.
"It's unimaginable, and to still put it on Facebook and be proud of what they did," Ayala says.
She took her son to the hospital, then to his doctor, who diagnosed a concussion.
The mom also notified the school and made a police report.
The school says police and the school district are investigating and that several students have been suspended for their involvement.
The mom says that's not enough.
"Having a suspension, giving them an early break from school … it teaches them absolutely not a single lesson," she says.
In the video, you can see Anthony getting punched even when he tries to walk away.
Thursday was supposed his last day in school for the year. He didn't go, and he'll be transferring to another school in the fall.