ELK GROVE, Calif. — The mother of the 15-year-old accused of attacking another student at Monterey Trail High School in Elk Grove is offering apologies and more insight into what she believes may have led up to the violent attack.
“My deepest apologies because my son is not here to advocated or speak for himself,” said Starr, the mother of the accused teen. He is now being charged with assault with a deadly weapon after initially suspected of attempted homicide.
The mother is speaking with ABC10 in hopes of shedding light on the incident and following numerous rumors circulating the school community and social media following video of the incident going viral.
She says her son was raised with family values and has never been violent. However, she said her son may have initiated the attack following an alleged bullying incident earlier in the day. That alleged incident was captured on video and involved the student her son was later accused of attacking, Starr said.
“I know my child and my child was afraid,” Starr said.
Her 15-year-old son takes two city busses during a roughly one hour ride to get home from school, Starr said.
"I believe that my son was afraid that ‘when I hear the bell rings and I have to get on the bus,’ that there’s going to be a problem,” Starr said.
The notion has been completely rejected by Kawame Curry, the father of the teenager seriously injured in the attack. His son Kawame Curry Jr. is still recovering from a serious head injury and has not yet returned to school.
“This had nothing to do with bullying whatsoever,” Curry said.
Both parents of the involved students are seeking more answers from the Elk Grove Unified School District about what led up to the incident and what measures were in place to prevent such an attack on a school campus.
“Let there be no mistake that not only do we care for our students, families and our staff but we also are doing due diligence to investigate it thoroughly, work to always improve and most importantly keep our community safe to be able to focus on our mission,” a letter posted to the Monterey Trail High School website writes this week.
Requests for comment from the EGUSD on Friday were not immediately returned.
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