A 13-year-old girl is in serious condition two days after being attacked by a group of girls after school.
According to KTRK, Kashala Francis told her mother that she was targeted by two girls after school last Thursday. Another girl joined in on the fight and kicked Kashala in the head.
Video of the incident shows girls laughing as Kashala sustains multiple blows to her head outside of Attucks Middle School in Houston.
“I can see these girls kicking her in her head while other children are laughing at her,” Mamie Jackson, Kashala’s distraught mother told the news station.
The 13-year-old returned home with a bruise on her face but said she was fine.
However, by Saturday, family members noticed that the young girl wasn’t acting like herself, appearing to be delusional at one point, before returning to normal.
By Sunday, Kashala was weak and complained about a painful headache to her mother over the phone.
“I drove over and I told her get up. I said ‘Get up, Kashala.’ She kept saying, ‘Mama, my head hurt,’ so she laid down,” Jackson told the news station.
By the time first responders arrived on the scene, Kashala was unconscious and has yet to reopen her eyes since that day.
The young teen was taken to Texas Children’s Hospital, where her mother said doctors discovered a previously unknown tumor.
“We found out she has a large tumor in the back of her head, and she had fluid buildup in her brain,” Jackson said.
It is still not clear whether the fight contributed to Kashala’s condition, or if it was the cause of a pre-existing condition, however, the Houston and Houston Independent School District police departments are investigating the fight, the news station notes.
“The district is aware that several Attucks Middle School students were involved in an off-campus altercation on Thursday,” the school district said in a statement. “HISD is gathering information and cooperating with the Houston Police Department in its investigation.”
The family has started a Facebook donation page to help support Kashala’s expenses. The page noted that “after multiple surgeries, the doctors stated that there is nothing they can do for Kashala and she has been pronounced brain dead.”
“All I know is my daughter was perfectly fine before this fight,” Jackson said breaking into tears. “And now I’m losing my baby.”