EVERETT – A crowd of teenagers near Mariner High School pulled a woman from her car and attacked her after she honked at them to get out of her way.
Sheriff’s deputies came, and the melee stopped.
The teens, some believed to be gang members, caught up with the woman an hour later. They again pulled her from her car and beat her, sending her to the hospital, Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Rich Niebusch said.
The 23-year-old mother of two suffered cuts, bruises and scrapes during the attacks. Her left eye was swollen shut after one of her attackers slammed her head into her car, her mother said.
The woman was released from the hospital Thursday night.
The Herald is not naming the woman or her mother for their safety.
The victim’s 10-month-old son was in the car’s back seat during both attacks.
“I’ve lived (in Everett) since 1968, and I’ve never seen this kind of violence here in my life,” the woman’s mother said.
The first attack happened about noon. The victim honked her car horn at about 15 teens who were blocking the way into her mother’s apartment complex on Fourth Avenue W., near the high school.
The teens didn’t give way, and instead pulled the 5-foot-2-inch, 120-pound woman from her car and beat her, her mother said.
Bystanders helped break up the attack, Niebusch said. Sheriff’s deputies came and detained two teenage girls, ages 17 and 18. As they were interviewing witnesses and suspects, the crowd grew to about 40 people and confronted deputies.
Police were forced to move their interviews to a nearby fire station. The two teenage girls, who were later released, could face assault charges, Niebusch said.
An hour later, the victim left the apartment complex to pick up her 4-year-old daughter from preschool. The teens apparently recognized her from the earlier run-in. They pulled her out of her car outside the preschool and attacked her again, Niebusch said.
Police arrested a girl, 15, involved in the second assault.
She was booked into the Denney Juvenile Justice Center for investigation of intimidating a witness because she went after a victim of a crime, police said. The teenagers detained in connection with the first attack were not involved in the second incident, Niebusch said.
The suspects are believed to be students at Mariner High School, as were others in the crowd that surrounded the woman’s car. The school had let out for the day at 11:15 a.m.
Investigators believe some in the group have ties to gangs, Niebusch said.
The school is cooperating with police in their investigation. The Mukilteo School District no longer has a school resource officer at Mariner.
Deputies continue to investigate the attacks, and others could face charges, Niebusch said.
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