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Posted on 05/08/2008 12:55:59 PM PDT by restornu
Mormons react after 2 teens are attacked at Gilbert park 2 teens arrested for attacking Mormon boys in Gilbert
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The parents of two teenage boys brutally attacked after revealing their faith spoke exclusively to ABC15 about the incident.
They did not want their names published because they fear retribution.
The father of one teen says his son has a broken collarbone and several lacerations on his face and back.
“He looked like he's been in some kind of a brawl and got the worst end of it. (I’m) just not used to seeing any of my kids in that situation no parent should see their kids in that kind of situation,” said the father.
The mother said, “I just broke down I just couldn't believe the way he looked. It was like surreal it was like something out of a bad dream and we just wanted to wake up.”
The parents said their daughter, who is their son’s older sister, witnessed the entire fight leaving her traumatized.
The mom explained her daughter was at first trying to stop the beating, “She tried, she screamed a lot, but this person was so into the beating he didn’t want to stop. She could not believe what she saw happen.”
The mother added by the time they got to the scene her outgoing daughter, “…was completely in emotional shutdown, fists clenched.” The mother plans to get counseling for her son and daughter.
“We received a fire call from the Fire Department saying they are treating my son for the injuries,” said the father of the other victim. He added that his son is suffering from a broken nose, fractured cheekbone, and several lacerations.
“I think the most important thing we could do as a society to avoid these types of things is for parents to be responsible for the raising of their children, “ he said.
On Wednesday night at a Gilbert Human Relations Commission meeting a Gilbert Police Lieutenant read a report about the attack.
He said there were junior high school-aged children playing in a pool with “Airsoft” pellet guns.
He added they were curing and using profanity.
The Mormon teenagers were playing Frisbee.
According to the Lieutenant the Mormon victims walked over to the pool to ask the kids to quiet down and clean up their language.
The kids responded by asking if the victims were Mormon, the victims said “yes”.
That’s when police say the junior high-school aged children began to fire pellets at the Mormons, taunt them, and spoke Mormon slurs.
Shortly after this a truck pulls up with some high school-aged teenagers.
We now know two of those are Mesquite High School football players.
Police believe one is the older brother of one of the younger kids in the pool and are investigating if he thought he was coming to the defense of his younger brother.
Due to the time span between the Mormon question and the attack Police say they still are not certain this was a hate crime.
They say it was fifteen minutes from the time the kids asked the question to the time the attack started.
CTR
Unbelievable. How horrible for the boys.
Trust me. It had nothing to do with being Mormon. It was a response to telling kids to clean up.
A “Mormon slur”?
What the heck is that?
Joseph Smith wore army boots!
This is just wrong. No one I don’t care if they are LDS or Wiccan or Atheists or Star Trek groupies, should have to worry about freaking thugs as they peacefully go about their business.
These boys would have been attacked no matter what the yobs were just looking for an excuse to show their feral nature.
Well these two probably called for due process for the FLDS and had it coming!/sarc
seriously though....I don’t think it should be cataloged as a hate crime any more than any other crime should be considered such...It is a shame this happened at all and hopefully the accused get what justice demands.
You don’t need to ask someone faith it should not matter!
couple of miles from my house, like all the schools out here in the valley, mesquite has gangs
I here the mormon slurs here on FR every day.
It involved two white kids, so it obviously couldn’t have been a hate crime. Hate crime laws are a farce.
There has been a slow burn, and not so slow burn attempt to denegrate the Mormons for some time now.
Running gag lines in sit coms refer to Utah as a place you wouldn’t want to go. News reports are rather sloppy when it comes to making statements that demonize them.
It’s really no surprise to me that these types of situaiton arrise. They were meant to.
Oh cut it out. The kids asked if they were Mormon. They responded yes, and were beaten to a pulp. What the hell is wrong with you.
I agree
The "hate crime" multiplier for crimes is stupid. Things like this are done out of hate even if it's against the perps own social group. They just hate society and civilization, that's really all it is about. They aren't human, they're feral dogs and should be treated as such.
Should just remove the "hate crime" tag and give that multiplier to everyone that commits these sort of crimes no matter who it is against.
Are you saying there were no hate crime against the Jewish people?
Oh. So if they had answered “No we are Jehovah’s Witnesses”, they wouldn’t have gotten a beating.
Sure
They were getting a beating no matter what
Riiiiight.
When do you want to come by and take possession of your bridge?
You don’t need to beat someone just because they asked you to clean up your language.
You do not know that. You can guess at the alternate conclusion, but you don’t know for sure. Your comments here are silly. You weren’t there. You didn’t see how the situation progressed. You’re floating toxic gas.
Tammy Bruce, quotes about Speech:
As the organized Left gained cultural power, it turned into a monster that found perpetual victimhood, combined with thought and speech control, the most efficient way to hold on to that power. Suddenly it was the Left, the protector of liberty, that was setting rules about what could and could not be said or even thought.
ALL crimes are hateful regardless. I think that a “violent crime” tag would be better in this instant than a “hate crime” tag.
You know this for a fact? Of course you do not. They asked the kids if they were MORMON, not JW, not Baptists, not Catholics, but Mormon. Turn on the left side of your brain once in a while.
Were you there?
Oh please where did I say that? Where did I say there was no hate crimes? I said the multiplier was stupid and should be applied to everyone.
The same thing happens here on FR all the time, LOL.
Really. Someone beat you on FR?
I agree with Tammy’s comments. Take a look at global warming. It has basically become a death knell for a corporation to deny that it exists, and that we aren’t the cause.
They’re scared s—tless and moving everything to a green oriented playing field.
PC will be the death of us.
that quote is right on, and I, like every other decent, civilised person want the accused tried in a court of law.
One, there’s no such thing as a hate crime.
Two, the boys were well within their rights to ask the other boys to tone down their language in a public place.
Three, the terrible truth is that some people, including some people here, will justify it because the kids were Mormon.
Four, the older boys that did this... several of them against two younger boys... are thugs and stinking cowards.
In what city and state did this occur?
The boys were asked what religion they were a member of. When they answered Mormon they were attacked.
I don’t need to have been there to understand this.
You do need to have been there to refute it.
Gilbert, looks like a suburb in the Phoenix metro area.
They certainly SHOULD face the consequences of their actions. Do we KNOW what they were thinking? Do we KNOW what prompted their action.
To pretend that we do, and to enhance the crime based upon what WE think the motive might have been, is to go down a very dangerous road.
All crimes are hate crimes.
Clarence S. Darrow, quotes about Speech:
There is no such crime as a crime of thought; there are only crimes of action.
Are you just looking for a fight or what? It has been established that the boys faith was part of the reason they got a beating. Now you are taking what has been posted in response and spinning it into a reason to aggravate. Unless a new “Tron” version of FR has come out, no one has gotten physically beaten here so stop playing coy and contribute meaningful dialogue that will help all who read it become better Americans please.
Nevermind.
That right there tells me the color of the attackers.
I don’t see your whole point of whether I was there or not. But let’s look at this logically
Let’s say the teens answered “No we are Methodists”. Then the Jr High kids taunted them with Methodist slurs.
Since we have no idea what was said, it would be simpler to conclude there were little assholes doing what they normally do vs a conspiracy against a religious group.
Granted, if the two teens were Elders walking through a neighborhood and attacked by Mormon slurring thugs, I might conclude they were targeted because of their religion.
I had no idea what state this was. When you post a story like this, please check the bock on the topic list for the state(s) that are relevant to the story. I went ahead and put in the topic “az” for Arizona.
Amen and Amen. I can hardly wait for the train ride to the American Gulag for my thought crimes against his royal supreme holiness Barak Hussein OBAMA! I also hope for the due process and quick justice, if needed, of the accused.
Public screwel kids. That's half the explanation.
When the punks found out these victims were Mormons they figured they were pacifists. That made them even bolder and more likely to attack.
These days it's even dangerous for an adult to correct punks like these. You never know when they're gang members or amoral products of government schools.
Elders have nametags that say LDS on them. You have to remember these were jr high kids. They hate everyone.
“Bud, give it up.”
I keep telling you that I am straight. Aim that elsewhere.
Aside from the missionaries who walk around in suits and name-tags, it is hard to distinguish Mormon youth from Baptist youth just by looking. When they were identified as such, it seemed to be the catalyst that fueled the beating’s intensity.
It would be a very bad idea to target Mormons, because they are not much for “turn the other cheek” when they feel threatened. Not what I would call a pacifist religion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danite
They are not quick to anger, but when they do get angry...
The neutrality of this article is disputed.
That’s what I think too. If you don’t like the language others are using, especially if they are clearly violent people, then go play somewhere else.
Anyway, having been taunted and called names by Catholic kids because Daddy was Jewish and “the Jews killed Christ”, back in the 1950s, I don’t see anything particularly new about religious bullying even if it was such a thing.
Isn't this the same supposed "intolerance" which helps to fuel these things? (Didn't these perps just essentially say, "Whaddya mean quiet down & clean up our language? What the h*** is wrong with you?")
Please be aware of Post 49. Thank you.
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