Video shows California man attack child at middle school
HAYWARD, Calif. - A school rift between two girls turns physical. But it's one of the girl's adult relatives that throws the punches, assaulting a student at a school basketball game.
Surveillance video shows a man running down a hallway at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School in Hayward, stop, pummel a student to the ground. He then runs off.
"This was a child beaten by an adult male," a spectator said to KTVU on the condition her identity is concealed. "To know that this happened to a young lady by a grown man, an adult? This is a problem."
She said she attended an after-school basketball game on Dec. 11 at the school when the assault took place. She said the man in the surveillance video is the uncle of one of the players who had an ongoing feud with the attack victim's sister.
The sister, a special-needs freshman at Mount Eden High School, was at MLK to watch her sister play. Apparently, the suspect chose to take matters into his own hands and fists.
He first allegedly pulled the fire alarm, and as people filled the hallway to evacuate the building, he runs up and sucker-punches the girl, beating her to the ground before he runs off.
"It is bizarre that [an] adult got involved to this magnitude, to assault a student," the spectator said. "And it just sounds like retaliation, or they've had a vendetta all this time because this is just ridiculous. Because no matter what the cause, this is a student, and he's an adult."
Hayward police confirmed Julias Monroe was detained by school security here at MLK, then arrested and booked into their jail for misdemeanor assault. He bailed out of jail later and is awaiting a court date.
"If you or I have children, and we beat our children, we're not only getting our children removed from us, but we're getting arrested, and we're gonna stay in jail until we go to trial," the spectator said, growing visibly upset.
In response to KTVU inquiries, officials with the Hayward Unified School District sent an email which read, "...we are not going to have any comment on this situation."
"Of course there's no comment. But to not even have a comment to say we wish the best for the student or the student is okay, that's unfortunate," said the spectator.
Hayward police confirmed the 15-year-old victim suffered non-life-threatening injuries and received medical treatment at the scene.
"I have seen fights between adults and juveniles before. It's unfortunate. We don't condone any violence, especially on a school campus. And we hope these adults and young adults alike can and not take out any disagreements with physical violence." said officer Cassondra Foval, a spokesperson for the Hayward Police Department
At least one parent said the victim's psychological wounds are deeper and will take longer to heal.
"She has a concussion. And I'm watching the other students at a game this week, and you can see the terror in their faces. They're traumatized," said the spectator.
Jesse Gary is a reporter based in the station's South Bay bureau. Follow him on the Instagram platform, @jessegontv and on Facebook, @JesseKTVU