13-Year-Old Houston Girl Dies After Getting Jumped After School
Kashala Francis died nearly a week after she was attacked by three girls on her way home from school.
Another young Black girl has died this month after getting into a fight after school.
This time the victim was Kashala Francis. The Houston native was only 13-years-old.
According to KTRK, Kashala's mother, Mamie Jackson, said her daughter came home covered in bruises last Thursday, saying she had been punched and kicked in the head multiple times from a group of girls from Attucks Middle School in Houston.
The brutal beating was captured on cellphone video.
"I can see these girls kicking her in the head while other children are laughing at her," Jackson told KTRK.
Days later on Sunday, Kashala complained of headaches, became unresponsive and was rushed to Texas Children's Hospital. Her doctor found that the teen had a tumor on the back on her head, which her family was unaware of, but she also fluid on the brain. Kashala later fell into a coma and died after surgery on Wednesday.
Jackson, who is devastated by her daughter's death, said Kashala was well-loved.
"It's not fair," Jackson said. "She did not deserve that. She kept saying 'Stop.' She didn't even want to fight, but they kept going."
She added, "I've never met a person who has come into contact with Kashala who has not fallen in love with her."
Fox 8 reported that authorities are waiting for the autopsy results to determine what role, if any, did the fight have on the teen's tragic death. However, Jackson is pretty certain that if her daughter had not been attacked, she would be alive now.
"So if she had a tumor in her head that we (didn't know) about, and somebody repeatedly stomps and kicks and punches you in your head, you're not even fighting back, is it going to be better, is it going to be worse?" Jackson asked.
"I still would have had more time with my baby."
The school district offered condolences to the family, students and teacher, saying in a statement, "Off-campus events that preceded the student's death are being investigated by the Houston Police Department, and HISD is cooperating."
The mother of one of the girls involved in the fight claims that the fight was mutual and that the girls had been feuding for a while. That, and she wants people to know that her child is not a monster.
"I hate this happened, you know I hate it. Not just for me, but for my daughter and for the family also," Johnnie Dorsey told KTRK.
"She's destroyed. She's having nightmares," Dorsey said. "She said you know, 'We just had a fight, I didn't know she had a tumor, she's a kid, mom. I didn't hit her that hard.'
Adding, that her daughter is not a murderer.
While Dorsey and her daughter are sorry for the family, she wants one thing clear.
"She did not kill her," Dorsey said.
Kashala's family has organized a Facebook fundraiser to pay the teen's medical bills.
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