MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Southeast Memphis mother said gang members, posing as high school students, jumped her 14- and 12-year-old daughters on their way home from school.
“I was horrified and still am. I still haven’t be able to fully watch the video, because it’s my children,” said Louise Sowers.
Cellphone cameras were rolling when her daughters were attacked last Wednesday.
Witnesses posted the video on Facebook. WREG is told the attackers bragged about what happened.
“They are gang members. They are walking around and intimidating other students,” said Sowers. “It was filmed. It had to be planned. The people were already holding their cameras up waiting.”
Sowers said most of the people who jumped her girls go to Wooddale High, but some are 19-year-olds dressed in school uniforms to blend in.
Memphis police told her the group was trying to gain rank in their gang.
“They grabbed me from my backpack and dragged me to the middle of the street,” said Sower’s daughter, Christale Deener.
Deener said she was hit and kicked, and her hair was pulled out of her head.
She said her 11-year-old friend broke loose from the fight and ran to get help.
Now Deener is afraid they’ll come back to finish what they started.
“I don’t know if they will have guns or something,” she said.
While the Wooddale Middle School staff told Sowers they don’t tolerate this behavior and they’re keeping an eye out, Shelby County Schools never got back to us about what it’s doing to keep students safe.
As for MPD, Sowers said she hasn’t heard from investigators since the attack.
“I don’t want there to be a next time. It shouldn’t have been a this time. I just want something to be done and justice to be served,” she said.
Sowers wants to transfer her children to another school for safety reasons, but is told the process could take up to a month, and the board will have to approve it.
A spokesperson with Memphis Police Department said she will check with investigators Tuesday to see if anyone has been caught or if they have any leads.
The attackers could face simple and aggravated assault charges.