Parents sound off after transvestite student with 'hit list' allegedly bashed open Pennsylvania girl's head
A teen transvestite with an apparent history of violence will likely face several charges over a savage, unprovoked attack that sent a 12-year-old girl to the hospital with head trauma Wednesday in North Wales, Pennsylvania.
The attack, which was caught on video, took place at 1:20 p.m. in the cafeteria at Pennbrook Middle School.
According to Upper Gwynedd Police Chief David Duffy, video of the incident in Montgomery County "depicts a sudden, violent, unprovoked assault with the assailant coming from behind the victim," reported WPVI-TV.
The video apparently shows the attacker brutally hammer the victim over the head with a Stanley cup, then smash her face repeatedly against the table. A security guard reportedly had to pry the attacker off his bloodied victim, who was subsequently shielded by a teacher.
Duffy told North Penn Now that the 12-year-old victim required staples to close her head wound and was placed in a concussion protocol.
Police have indicated the teen will likely face numerous charges including felony 1 aggravated assault.
Pennbrook principal Nick Taylor informed parents in an email that "school security and school staff were on hand and quickly responded, and are to be commended for their swift actions." Taylor noted further that police and medical responders were quickly dispatched to the scene.
On Thursday, concerned parents and community members packed a North Penn School District meeting, demanding answers and questioning the narrative that has been seeded to the media. The district appeared keen to dodge parents' questions about the incident.
"This was avoidable, and the district truly failed to protect the students at Pennbrook," said one parent. "What are we supposed to say to our children after this? How do I send him back to school?"
Another parent indicated that there were clear signs school administrators understood in advance the threat posed by the alleged attacker, granted they apparently escorted him around the premises over safety concerns.
"It's unreal. It don't make sense. And it will make sense later because somebody had to let this child come to the school ... knowing their background, knowing everything about this child," said a dad whose child was supposedly on the attacker's "hit list."
A young student named Emily testified at the NPSD meeting that she and others warned school employees that the transvestite student was planning an attack.
"Wednesday morning, I went to the guidance counselor and told her, since I was second on the hit list, knowing that there was something going to happen," said Emily, "because there was a girl she was targeting every day at lunch. And they would go to the counselor and tell them every day that this is going to happen."
According to Emily, the school official to whom she had expressed her concerns reassured her that nothing was going to happen. The transvestite student, who apparently referred to himself as "Melanie," was apparently keen to prove the school employee wrong.
Emily indicated that she and two others warned school officials on the day of the attack that they anticipated something bad was going to happen. Afterward, Emily said she was told, "'Watch your back. He is going to come for you and this other girl at lunch.'"
Emily was in the cafeteria just feet away from the attack when it occurred.
"I just hear all this screaming and everybody running, and I see Mel running in after somebody," Emily recalled. "This girl who got attacked didn't see it [coming] because she was faced backwards, and all of sudden you just hear these terrible, like, loud bangs of the Stanley bouncing off her head. And then you see Mel grabbing her hair and hitting her against the table and just repeatedly hitting her with the Stanley."
"There was blood going everywhere," said Emily, noting she was at a neighboring table. "All you see is blood everywhere. ... We had to sit in there and watch them clean up the blood off those tables and ground, and we had to watch them take her out with blood dripping down her face."
Full video of PA father & daughter at yesterday's @NPSD School Board Meeting on the gruesome attack at Pennbrook Middle School. \n\nDad: Why were kids told they weren't allowed to call/text their parents [for 28 minutes]? Why were students left in that room as they're cleaning up\u2026— (@)
Stephanie Palovcak, a parent who spoke at the meeting and had received a distressed call from her daughter amid the chaos Wednesday, took issue with principal Taylor's suggestion that the incident had been a fight. "This isn't a fight," said the mother. "This is an assault."
Palovcak also emphasized that the school had failed to act on repeated warnings from students and parents alike.
"There were multiple parents who reached out about this child making threats," said Palovcak, referencing the hit list.
Some parents indicated that the alleged attacker had been expelled from another district middle school over violence and inappropriate behavior. However, North Penn superintendent Todd Bauer claimed the assertion the student was expelled from another NPSD middle school for violent in-school behavior and transferred was false.
Stefan Ross, another parent, indicated his son went to the transvestite's previous school and was left with the distinct impression the transvestite had violent tendencies. Ross noted an incident off school grounds where "the person came out from the trees and brandished a knife on my son and his friend."
Parents indicated that the alleged attacker's first day at the school was Monday.
Some community members expressed outrage that in the wake of the attack, media reports neglected to mention the attacker was a biological male.
"How come none of the articles said it was a boy attacking a girl? How come half the people kept switching between 'he' and 'she,'" said one impassioned father. "I've got nothing against any type of community, but what is right is right and what is fair is fair, and that's not cool. If this kid was protected simply because they were trans and not because of any other reason, that's not cool. They have a violent past."
BREAKING: Massive controversy erupting at @NPSD in PA where a 13-year-old girl was hospitalized after a student brutally beat her.\n\nParents and students are alleging that the attacker is a male who identifies as female. Not a single media outlet mentions that he was trans.\n\nThe\u2026— (@)
A hearing is reportedly scheduled Monday for the alleged attacker.
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