'Gang' attacks junior

A group of at least seven Blair freshmen assaulted and seriously injured a junior after school at Silver Spring International Middle School in a Sept 13 incident described as "gang activity" by Principal Phillip Gainous.

Although the seven assailants, who have all been suspended for ten days and recommended for expulsion, were primarily responsible for the attack, Gainous believes that there are likely others who participated in the incident.

Montgomery County Police spokesman Derek Baliles said that police will likely file first-degree assault charges against three of the perpetrators.

The victim, who was hospitalized for over a week, apparently was attacked without cause, according to Assistant Principal Carole Working. "From my perspective, it was completely senseless. This is the worst fight that has ever occurred in the time I have been with this [school]," Working said.

According to Baliles, the victim was walking home from school when he was approached by one of the assailants. After a brief verbal exchange, the assailant ran in front of the victim to block his path. Joining him were two other assailants, who hit the victim once in the back of the head and once in the mouth and kicked him repeatedly after he was on the ground. Several adults who were walking on the track then called the police, said Baliles.

Gainous believes the incident is an example of gang activity because the group was organized in its violent activities.

According to Gainous, the assailants may have gone to Silver Spring International having already selected a middle-school victim but selected another student instead when the original target did not appear. Gainous also said that neither the victim nor the suspects knew one another.

Gainous said he wants to send a strong message against such organized attacks. "I'm going to take as harsh and hard a stand as I can against gang activity. No one can function in a building as we expect them to function if they've got to fear that ‘every time I turn a corner someone may be waiting to jump me.' We have to get the people who engage in this kind of activity out of the school," he said.