Police have now arrested four additional students, including one female, accused of severely beating a Westlake High School junior earlier this week.
Altogether five underclassmen, ranging from 14- to 16 years old, have been charged by school police with aggravated battery and aggravated assault, said Samantha Evans, a spokeswoman for Fulton County schools.
Yvette Brown, a spokeswoman for the Fulton District Attorney, said their office has yet to receive the cases.
The victim, a 16-year-old junior, sustained a broken nose and jaw during the attack, which took place in a Westlake classroom Monday afternoon. He was released Wednesday from Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston, though his recovery is far from complete. His jaw will remain wired shut anywhere from three to six weeks, according to his mother, a former law enforcement officer and current Fulton County employee who wishes to remain anonymous.
Two of the Westlake students implicated in the attack boasted on Facebook about the severity of the beating. "[H]is teeth gone, both his eyes was leakin' and his nose," said the female suspect. Wrote another: "He got beat bad," in all caps.
Fights are fairly common at the school of about 1,900, said some students interviewed following Monday's fracas.
"At least two a week," said Uri Smiley, a junior.
Evans told the AJC that 69 fights were reported at Westlake last year resulting in 27 serious injuries.
The victim's mother said she barely recognized her son when she picked him up from the school Monday. She said administrators waited 40 minutes before calling her and it was roughly another hour before she arrived to take him to the hospital.
Principal Grant Rivera said Wednesday the incident has “cast a cloud that doesn’t reflect the character of our students and families.” He acknowledged the school's medical staff should have sought outside assistance faster.
The victim, who has just joined the school's wrestling team, is unlikely to return to Westlake, his mother told the AJC. His attackers, meanwhile, have been suspended and will face a tribunal within the next 10 days that will decide their future at the southwest Atlanta school.
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