Police Make More Arrests In Connection To Brutal Assault Of 15-Year-Old Girl In Brooklyn
Editor's note: This story was updated at 4:15 p.m. on Sunday, March 8
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- At least 12 teens have been arrested in connection to a brutal assault on a 15-year-old girl in Brooklyn.
As many as six persons of interest are still out there.
On Saturday, some of the girl's relatives spoke out about the attack.
Pamela Thompson is the grandmother of the 15-year-old girl seen in a widely viewed caught on camera assault, getting stomped on, kicked, and robbed by a group of boys.
Watch: Brutal Gang Attack Caught On Video
The girl is now home from the hospital, CBS2's Dave Carlin reported.
"Her spirit is broken. She don't want to even come outside," Thompson said.
Thompson was at the scene of Thursday's crime, talking about the young victim's pain, both physical and emotional.
"She has a concussion. She has a lot of bruises, you know, but she'll be all right. But not right now. She's just messed up, you know? She's mentally messed up," Thompson said.
The attack happened at the corner of Utica Avenue near Stirling Place not long after high school dismissal.
Police said it may have been retribution for a prior argument, possibly a verbal one during school hours, but they did not elaborate.
OUTRAGE:this is sickening video of a 15 year old girl viciously attacked by a group of school children. One young man takes the sneakers right off the unconscious victim's feet. The teenager is in the hospital recovering. We CAN NOT allow this behavior in our community. #Speakup pic.twitter.com/VLLb91fDOM
— NYPDBrooklynNorth (@NYPDBklynNorth) March 6, 2020
The victim's relatives, including the community activist Tony Herbert, said the girl told them she did not see this coming.
"She was an innocent victim, very simple. She was an innocent victim," he said.
One witness, who did not want to be identified, said her loud objections scared off the boys.
"I ran to them and tell them, 'get off her' and I scream until I lost my voice," she said.
She also talked about the one young suspect seen in the video holding sneakers police said belonged to the victim.
"That was the one that took it off, the last one. He's the last person that physically touched her," she said.
Investigators said they have identified 18 persons of interest in this case, including some who have turned themselves in at the 77th Precinct stationhouse.
One of them was accompanied by his mother, and she reached out to family members, according to Herbert.
"She turned him in and she wants to apologize directly to this family," Herbert said. "And also said that if she has to, you know, pay back for those sneakers, she's willing to do that because that's not what her son is supposed to be doing in these streets."
Herbert praised that mother and noted some of the young people involved did the right thing by coming forward, but he said many more need to follow the example until all are in custody.
Police said the young suspects face charges, as minors, of robbery and gang assault.