LAUDERHILL, FLA. (WSVN) - A South Florida mother is demanding justice, days after her teenage sons were ambushed and attacked by a group of other teens on a Lauderhill basketball court.
The mother, who asked not to be identified or show her face on camera, is still reeling from the disturbing incident. “It was a brutal act. I was upset. I was angry, and I was hurt.” she said.
A video posted to Instagram appears to shows the 17-year-old twins being jumped and beaten on the basketball court at West Wind Park, Friday afternoon. “My son was trying to come here to play basketball to make it on the school team. That’s why he was here,” said their mother.
However, she said, her two sons, who attend a nearby charter school, were attacked by the group, leaving one of them with a split lip requiring stitches and the other with scratches.
It remains unclear what started the melee, and the video gives little clues.
The twins, who also declined to show their faces on camera, said they don’t remember much of the fight.
When they came back from the park, their mother said she saw that one of her son’s faces had been bloodied. She then called the police.
“It’s an assault, a battery that occurred within a city park, so obviously, the police department in the City of Lauderhill takes this very, very seriously,” said Lauderhill Police Lt. Greg Solowsky.
The fight was posted on at least one Instagram account of a person identifying himself as a Piper High School student, and another post tagged teens supposedly in the photo.
Piper High School is located just a few blocks from the park.
The twins’ mother has gone to the school, which is now launching its own investigation. “I would like justice for my kids,” said the mother. “I would love to see other kids come to this park and enjoy themselves without getting hurt. He wasn’t here to be around, not just to hang around the park. He was here to try to make something of himself.”
Police and the Broward County School District said they are talking to students and looking through social media accounts as they try to determine who was behind the fight.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.