Two teenage girls on their way home from school were beaten in a Washington D.C., Metro station by a group of teens — who then posted video of the attack on social media.
The girls left their high school and were waiting for a train on a crowded platform at the L'Enfant Plaza Metro station at about 6 p.m. on June 6 when they were approached, their mothers told News4.
"They came up behind her and said 'What you want to do?' and started hitting on her," one mother, who asked not to be identified, said her daughter reported.
The group of teens pummeled the girls for minutes while at least one person recorded the attack using a cellphone, the mothers said.
One of the victims suffered damage to her eye socket.
"The swelling has gone down, and now the pain of the cracked bone is there and it's starting to bother her," her mother said. "She sleeps almost all day and is up all night."
One of the victims then found footage of the beating on Instagram. It was one of the most popular "fight videos" on the social media site the following day. The video has since been removed.
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The mothers say they were horrified to see the footage of the attack.
"It was animal-like to see how they pound on my child like she don’t mean anything," one of the mothers said. "You pound on her and pound on her, and you laughed about it, you recorded it."
The train platform was full of commuters who did not intervene, the victims told their mothers.
"She didn't understand why so many adults stood around and no one helped them," one of the mothers said.
The mothers have retained legal representation to help them determine their next steps.
"The mothers of these children want justice," attorney Bart Columbo said. "They want the perpetrators prosecuted, and they want to make sure this doesn’t happen to other children."
Police in D.C. and Prince George's County said they are familiar with the group of youths responsible for the attack and monitor their activities. Most of the young people live in Prince George's County, D.C. police said.
Metro Transit Police said they are close to making an arrest in the case but did not provide additional details. Members of the group were identified with help from surveillance cameras.
In the meantime, both teen girls have switched schools because they do not want to ride the Metro.
"Metro is not safe at all, and I challenge somebody to tell me that it's safe," the mother of one of the victims said. "It's not."
