The two teens who assaulted 13-year-old Diego at Landmark Middle School in Moreno Valley, California, on Sept. 16, were charged with voluntary manslaughter on Sept. 13, after the victim died in the hospital.
John Hall, a spokesman for the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, told KTLA reported, neither of the boys identities will be released due to both being age 13.
The charges are an upgrade from the original charges, assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury, after Diego died on Sept. 24.
One of the attackers appeared in court for a preliminary hearing on October 2 and denied the charges held against him. He is scheduled back in court for a pretrial on Nov. 1. The other boy is due to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on Oct.15.
Classmates told KTLA that Diego had been the victim of bullying for a long time. According to parents and fellow students, bullying and aggression are far too common at the School, and the District has done little to prevent this tragedy from happening.
At a meeting on Sept. 19, the district announced behavioral specialists and mental health experts have been hired to provide solace and support.
A video showed Diego being hit in the face by one boy while the other sucker-punched him in the side of the head. Diego then fell and hit his head against a pillar, Fox6 reported.
One of the boys who hit Diego rushed over to hit Diego again while Diego was on the ground, according to the report.
Classmates said Diego had been bullied in the past, adding that violence has been a problem at the school, the station reported.
In a statement at a press conference on Wednesday, Martinrex Kedziora, the school district’s Superintendent, said, “Our community and the Moreno Valley Unified School District family has suffered an immeasurable loss,” reported ABC 7.
Tensions have run high since the attack. Students and parents confronted Kedziora on Wednesday night during a vigil for Diego, the Press-Enterprise reported.
“We came here for Diego and we came here for the community and our children,” Mia Carino, mother of a 10-year-old who will be starting at Landmark in a few years, told the paper. “[Kedziora] owes us answers, where was the security? Why did Diego’s family come a week before the attack? They reported the bullying and nothing happened.”
“What did the school district do? Nothing,” another woman said, reported CBS LA, “What did the school district do a week before when the mother came pleading for her son’s life? They did nothing. Where is the superintendent?”
In 1998, a 12-year-old student, Jerod Schroeder, died at the same Landmark school from head and neck injuries caused by a punch to the head from a 14-year-old friend in a quarrel over the use of a basketball field.
Epoch Times reporter Zachary Stieber contributed to this report
