Two teens attacked, beaten in seventh swarming attack
Posted Sep 8, 2010 05:22:22 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Halifax Regional Police are investigating another swarming in central Halifax.
It’s now the seventh in the area since Friday night.
However, police say there are some differences between Tuesday night’s attack and the six that happened over the long weekend.
Sgt. Gordon Graham says the most recent incident started around 9:30 last night when the two teenaged victims were approached by six or seven other teens near the skate park on the Halifax Common.
After a brief conversation, Graham says the group surrounded the pair and started beating them.
“One of the victims ended up with a swollen lip, and the other victim appeared to have a broken nose and his lip required stitches,” he said.
Graham says the attackers stole a kit bag containing a wallet and some personal items, and the victims were able to run away.
The suspects are described as being in their late teens and early 20s, and most were white – unlike the group believed to be responsible for the weekend attacks, which is described as mostly black youths in their early to late teens.
Graham says that doesn’t rule out a link to the weekend attacks.
“There’s always a possible connection, but..the suspect description is quite different from the earlier swarmings,” he said.
The victim of one of those attacks is talking about his ordeal, saying he hopes other local residents will learn a lesson.
The man, who didn’t want to be identified, tells CTV news he was walking with two friends on a side street near Robie on Monday night when a teen approached and asked him for a light.
“Once the guy clocked me, I don’t really remember much after that except for bleeding a lot and screaming at them to leave us alone and then them taking off,” he said. “It all happened pretty quick.”
The young man was attacked with some kind of metal bat or broom handle and suffered cuts and bruises as well as a gash to his hand that will require surgery.
He says if he’d known about other weekend attacks, he might have been better prepared, or would have avoided walking down the side street.
Police say they’re stepping up patrols in the neighbourhood.
