Two minors are in custody following an incident Friday night in which a Canby middle schooler was allegedly jumped by several high school students and other kids.
The 12-year-old victim, who is in the seventh grade at Baker Prairie Middle School, suffered a concussion along with multiple contusions and swelling around the head.
“He couldn’t tell the paramedic our address or his phone number,” his mother told the Canby Now Podcast. “When we arrived at the hospital in Oregon City, he thought we were in Canby.”
The alleged details of the incident are disturbing. The victim’s mother said it stems from an altercation in which her son stood up for a girl at school.
“This boy got crazy and was making threats to my son,” she said. “Kids told the school yesterday that he was planning a knife attack and they got pulled into the principal’s office.”
She claims the school never told her about the incident or the alleged threats.
“If I had been notified, I would not have allowed him or his younger brothers to go to the game,” she said. “He went innocently, not thinking anything was going to happen, and the other boy went with a full-on plan of attack.”
She said the alleged agressor sent her son a threatening, profanity-laced video, then surrounded him before the game and tried to goad him into a fight. He refused, but she claims the other group wasn’t willing to let it go.
She claims they posted a “lookout” to let the rest of the group know when he was away from the protection of adults. This happened around 8 p.m., when he was walking back from McDonald’s with his younger brother and a girl from his grade.
A passing motorist saw what was happening and blasted their horn, the mother said, which she believes saved her son from being more seriously hurt.
Many of the details remain unclear, despite the fact that there were dozens of eyewitnesses and even cellphone videos of the incident. Some say there were as many as 15 attackers. Others say one boy had a knife, but ditched it before the attack began.
The task of sorting fact from fiction will lie with the Canby Police Department. Chief Bret Smith confirmes Sunday that two minors are in custody and that the investigation is ongoing.
He said detectives are planning more interviews this week.
“We are taking this very seriously,” he said. “We are conducting a thorough and complete investigation, so we can come to a full understanding of what happened.”
The victim’s mother said police plan to meet with her and share their conclusions once their investigation is complete.
