13 Florida high school students arrested in ‘out of control’ brawls across campus
A Florida high school turned into a fight club where haymakers, shoving and wrestling overtook the hallways earlier this week, leading to the arrest of 13 students.
Several fights broke out throughout Tuesday at Zephyrhills High School while videos posted to various social media sites show different angles of the brawls.
In the now-viral videos, classmates can be heard encouraging the brawlers, “let’s get to class,” among other verbal commands.
School safety officers and teachers unsuccessfully attempted to break up the brawls that included 14 students.
“The sheer number of students involved and the intensity of the situation made intervention challenging, as students continued to engage in the altercation despite efforts to de-escalate,” the Pasco County School District said in a release, according to Fox13.
One video allegedly shows school principal Christina Stanley being thrown to the ground as she attempted to separate two students with the help of another school staffer.
In another video, several female students punch and kick a defenseless peer who was lying on the ground.
At one point, students threw punches at one another as they stampeded through a doorway causing several of the brawlers to fall on top of each other.
The school district’s superintendent condemned the student’s violent behavior in the wake of the chaos.
“Let me be perfectly clear: behavior of this nature will not be tolerated in Pasco County Schools. Every student has the right to a safe and conducive learning environment, and we will take every necessary measure to ensure that this remains the case,” Pasco Schools Superintendent Kurt Browning said in a statement.
Footage also shows police officers arriving on campus as they were called in to “help keep the peace,” according to Fox13.
The school was briefly put under a “controlled campus, out of an abundance of caution” as police officers arrived to “help keep the peace,” according to Fox13.
The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office noted there were no threats to the school.
Law enforcement remained on campus for the remainder of the school day as the movement of both staff and students was limited through dismissal.
Zephyrhills High School, located 30 miles northeast of Tampa, has a student population of 1,614, according to US News.
The 13 students arrested are facing battery and disruption of a school function charges and may also face discipline from the district, according to the outlet.
Parents expressed frustration over the fighting, nor with the district, as they fear for their children’s safety, with some not sending their kids to school the next day.
“This was a massive amount of students attacking each other and then when your security, your teachers are now trying to help the situation, they too become victims themselves,” parent Kuilani Hafoka Barreno told WFLA.
“Staff got hurt, children got hurt, and it was completely out of control and they could not control it. And that is a very scary thing,” Danielle Marie said, whose son used to attend the school before she moved him to another one because of the regularity of “incidents,” the outlet reported.
“I just decided that he was not going to attend that school anymore because it had gotten too out of control,” she added.
In 2017, a 14-year-old Zephyrhills student was arrested when he threatened to bring a machete to the high school and kill two students.
He claimed the social media message was a joke as he was then taken to a juvenile facility.
