Three high-school students in Texas reportedly dressed as Ku Klux Klan members for Halloween — and attacked a Black teen with a Taser.
Matt Manning, an attorney who represents the victim, said the incident occurred in Woodsboro on Oct. 31, according to a report from Corpus Christi’s Channel 3.
Manning wrote on Facebook that he was “infuriated because I learned, from multiple sources, that another, even younger victim was terrorized by these depraved menaces that same night.”
“Furthermore, the three young men who perpetrated these crimes were apparently still allowed to play in Friday night’s Woodsboro Eagle football game against Falls City,” Manning wrote. “We are demanding an explanation from the Woodsboro HS administration and athletic department for how three players could commit an act of terror, hate, and injury — surely known by coaches and administration to have occurred — yet still be afforded the PRIVILEGE to play football. It is abhorrent, indefensible, and inexcusable, and we demand answers.”
At a news conference on Wednesday, Manning added: “We’re not dealing with kids who just happened to get into a fight, we’re not dealing with kids who happened to be engaged in high school high jinks. We’re talking a specific act of terror where they are emulating the members of a terrorist organization.”
Manning declined to release the identities of the three suspects, or his client, because they are all minors.
The Woodsboro school district issued a statement saying officials cannot discipline the suspects because the conduct occurred off campus. However, the district said it is cooperating with a law enforcement investigation.
“The Woodsboro Police Department said it has opened an investigation into the incident and has acquired the help of the Texas Rangers from Sinton,” the Caller Times newspaper reports. “The local NAACP has deemed the incident a ‘hate crime’ until further information is revealed.”
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