Click the play button on the video window to the right to see the story
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
Click the play button on the video window to the right to see the story
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.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.