COCONUT CREEK, FLA. (WSVN) - A South Florida mother is demanding accountability after her 12-year-old son was captured on video being slapped and shoved by a teen while other children watched.
Speaking with 7News on Friday, Gicela Osses said this is a case of bullying that breaks her heart.
“My son was so scared,” he said.
Osses said her son Gabriel angered the taller boy seen on cellphone video of Thursday’s incident by sending a Valentine’s Day card to a girl at their school, Lyons Creek Middle in Coconut Creek.
As Osses told the story, she alternated between English and Spanish.
“He said to my son that he was going to shoot him in the head if he continued to ask this girl out,” said Osses in Spanish.
Osses said Gabriel was in his apartment complex’s common area with other boys when the accused bully showed up.
The video shows the assailant slapping Gabriel twice. At first the victim doesn’t react, then he begins to retreat.
“Yeah, you better cry about it,” a boy is heard saying in the video.
Seconds later, the aggressor pushed Gabriel into some bushes.
“Damn!” a boy is heard saying in the video.
In another part of the video, Gabriel is once again seen standing, not reacting, as another boy taunted him.
“Fight back,” someone is heard saying in the video.
The accused bully is seen following Gabriel, cornering him against a fence.
“Don’t be like that,” the assailant is heard saying before he once again slaps Gabriel. “All right?”
“Make him get on his knees,” another boy is heard saying.
The accused bully runs back toward the victim.
“As a matter of fact, get on your knees. As a matter of fact, get on your [expletive] knees,” the aggressor said.
The accused bully then starts to count down.
“Three,” he said.
Gabriel then gets on his knees.
“All right, now say sorry, Say sorry, say, ‘I’m sorry,'” the accused bully said.
“He’s very scared, because when he finished fighting him, he told [Gabriel] that if he told anyone what happened, that he would know what was going to happen,” said Osses through a translator.
The video was very difficult for Osses to watch. It had already been posted on social media.
“I was scared, and I was crying,” she said.
The concerned parent said her son had been targeted by bukllies for the past two week, but it wasn’t until Thursday that things escalated. She reported the incident to police, and the accused bully was arrested.
Loved ones hope it will be a lesson learned.
“That was not a fight. That was an attack, that was an attack against a child that he knew very well that he was doing. It was a very cruel attack,” said family friend Dermis Gunness.
Coconut Creek Police said the boy seen hitting Gabriel in the video has been charged with misdemeanor battery.
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